0  20  S211  1902 


1822  01189  6792 


mm. 


HV^^B!  B0BR 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 

Ms .  Ma,rv  Alplanalap 


E.  W.  Estes. 


ran 


D  ?0  S211  1902 


THE 

WORLD'S  HISTORY 

AND  ITS  MAKERS 


EDGAR  SANDERSON,  A.  M. 

AUTHOR  "HISTORY  OF  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE" 

J.  P.  LAMBERTON,  A.  M. 

AUTHOR    "HISTORIC   CHARACTERS   AND   FAMOUS    EVENTS,"    "LITERATURE 
OF  ALL  NATIONS,"  ETC. 

JOHN  McGOVERN 

AUTHOR.  "  THE  GOLDEN  LEGACY,"  "  THE  TOILERS'  DIADEM,"  "  FAMOUS  AMERI- 
CAN  STATESMEN,"  ETC. 

OLIVER  H.  G.  LEIGH 

COLLABORATOR  ON  "HISTORIC  CHARACTERS  AND  FAMOUS  EVENTS,"  "  LITERA- 
TURE OF  ALL  NATIONS"  AND  "LIBRARY  OF  AMERICAN  LITERATURE ;" 
AUTHOR  OF   'HISTORY  OF  THE  UNION  LEAGUE 

OF  PHILADELPHIA,"  ETC. 
AND  THE  FOLLOWING  EMINENT  AMERICAN  EDITORS  AND  WRITERS: 

JOSEPH  M.  ROGERS.   A.    M. ;    LAURENCE  E.   GREENE ;    M.   A.   LANE; 

G.  SENECA  JONES,  A  M. ;  FREDERICK  LOGAN ; 

WILLIAM  MATTHEWS  HANDY. 

INTRODUCTION  BY 

MARSHALL  S.  SNOW,  A.  M. 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY  WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY  AND  DEAN  OF  THE  COLLEGE; 
AUTHOR   "CITY  GOVERNMENT,"   "POLITICAL    STUDIES,"   ETC.,   ETC. 

TEN  VOLUHES 

VOL.  I 

ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 


NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


E.  R.   DU  MONT 


1902 


BAAL  R.  DuMONT 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  -        j 

IMPORTANCE   OF   HISTORY,   FAMILIES   AND   RACES,  CHINA, 

INDIA  i 
GREAT   ORIENTAL   PEOPLES   (EGYPTIANS,   HITTITES,    CHAL- 

D^ANS,  ASSYRIANS,  BABYLONIANS,   ISRAELITES,  PHOBNI- 

CIANS,  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS)  -      22 

HISTORY  OF  GREECE     -  82 

HISTORY  OF  ROME  -  -    176 

MEDIEVAL  HISTORY      -  294 

RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS     -  -    309 

EMPIRE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE      *  320 

BEGINNINGS  OF  MODERN  NATIONS  -    325 

GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER  333 

THE  CRUSADES  -    339 

ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  357 

CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  FRENCH  MONARCHY    -  -    372 

PROGRESS  OF  ROYALTY  IN  ENGLAND  -  378 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  OTHER  EUROPEAN  NATIONS  -    384 

THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM     -  395 

CHIVALRY      -  -    400 

CIVILIZATION  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  -  408 


PHOTOGRAVURES 


VOLUME  I. 

PAGE. 

HISTORY  (IDEAL) i 

ALCIBIADES  AND  ASPASIA 118 

PAPIRIUS  INSULTED  BY  THE  GAULS 207 

BUND  APPIUS  CLAUDIUS  LED  INTO  THE  SENATE 269 

MOHAMMED 313 


INTRODUCTION 

ADVANTAGES  AND   PLEASURES  TO  BE   DERIVED 
FROM  A  STUDY  OF   HISTORY 

In  laying  before  our  readers  the  present  series  of  ten 
volumes,  which  we  have  named  THE  WORLD'S  HIS- 
TORY AND  ITS  MAKERS,  it  seems  fitting  not  only 
to  describe  the  general  character  of  the  work,  but  to  dwell 
for  a  few  moments  on  the  study  of  history  as  an  important 
part  of  a  useful  and  well-spent  life. 

History  is  the  written  record  of  the  past ;  it  is  also  such 
written  study  of  the  present  as  enables  us  to  reveal  the  un- 
written past.  The  great  pyramid  is  not  history,  and  until 
Herodotus  wrote  and  Champollion  deciphered,  it  was  but 
an  artificial  mountain.  The  mounds  in  the  region  of  Nine- 
veh were  only  heaps  of  sand  whose  excavation  would  have 
added  little  to  history,  had  not  Grotefend,  by  guessing  from 
the  pages  of  the  Bible,  happily  found  a  key  to  the  translation 
of  the  cuneiform  writings  of  the  Assyrians  that  lay  buried 
in  the  libraries  of  Mesopotamia. 

History,  again,  beside  its  function  of  unequaled  dramatic 
entertainment,  gradually  amasses  the  informing  facts  con- 
cerning man's  action  in  his  environment.  Scholars  for  cen- 
turies have  been  striving  to  acquire  the  philosophy  of  history, 
in  order  to  predetermine  the  destiny  of  their  race.  Man, 
physically  a  compound  of  many  elements,  stands  in  the  midst 
of  about  one  hundred  things  also  called  elements,  arranged 
into  one  thing  called  the  Universe.  It  has  been  the  dream 
of  philosophy  since  the  days  of  Pythagoras  first  to  demon- 
strate that  man  acts  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  his 
environment,  and  next  to  reach  the  plane  of  scientific  proph- 
ecv  as  to  his  future  actions.  In  this  series,  one  volume 


11  INTRODUCTION 

has  been  apportioned  to  the  recent  history  of  the  triumph 
of  man  over  the  forces  of  a  nature  that  once  seemed  rude 
and  unfertile,  but  now  teems  with  interest  more  startling 
than  the  boasts  of  necromancers. 

History,  to  the  living,  is  not  the  chief  function  of  lan- 
guage, but  to  the  unborn  the  handing  down  of  history  will 
be  by  far  the  most  notable  of  our  deeds.  Whoever,  then, 
adds  to  this  heritage  that  is  to  be  transmitted  to  the  future, 
throws  himself  wisely  upon  the  gratitude  of  a  race  which  will 
rapidly  grow  more  generous  and  appreciative.  As  we  may 
easily  perceive  the  desirability  of  stores  of  knowledge  for 
the  future,  so  we  may  by  that  measure  also  value  our  own 
opportunities  of  peering  into  the  past.  By  means  of  history, 
we  who  are  limited  in  life  to  a  few  decades  may  dwell  upon  the 
experience  of  our  own  kind  for  sixty  centuries. 

The  earliest  poets  in  the  Ayran  languages  of  Europe 
were  historians.  Homer,  Hesiod,  Virgil,  Dante,  Tasso,  Mil- 
ton, Byron,  are  historians — history  is  the  very  kernel  of  their 
song.  The  early  balladists  are  tellers  of  story.  The  favor- 
ite short  poems  of  the  world  are  more  often  history  than 
sentiment — "Alexander's  Feast,"  "Hohenlinden,"  "Scots 
Wha  Hae,"  "The  Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade"— the  more 
stirring  the  lyric,  the  more  of  history  it  recalls. 

There  is  no  theatrical  drama  that  is  not  the  mimic  of  that 
imposing  stage  which  we  here  place  before  the  reader.  To 
this,  his  own  theater,  he  may  enter  at  all  hours ;  these  actors 
are  always  at  his  bidding.  From  his  almost  royal  divan  in 
this  arena,  he  may  summon  before  him  a  glittering  pageant 
of  patriarchs,  kings,  queens,  conquerors,  captives,  statesmen, 
philosophers,  inventors,  magicians.  All  will  obediently  play 
their  parts ;  no  poet,  however  godlike  his  imagination,  has 
wrought  with  such  skill  of  plot,  as  time  has  wrought. 

On  this  stage  walk  Adam  (Manu,  Menu,  Menes,  Minos. 
Man)  and  his  nine  descendants ;  Noah  and  his  nine  descend- 
ants. Here  is  unrolled  the  chapter  of  the  tenth  of  Genesis, 
that  gives  a  geography  to  the  world.  Here  rise  Egypt  and 
the  pyramids ;  Tyre  and  her  dark  daughter  Carthage ;  Greece 


INTRODUCTION  ill 

and  her  white  statues;  Rome  and  her  short  sword;  here 
comes  Mohammed  out  of  his  cave,  with  his  scimetar,  and 
here  flashes  the  panoply  of  ten  crusades  to  the  Holy  Sepul- 
cher;  here  sleeps  Europe  through  a  devout  siesta  of  ten 
centuries ;  here  again  upspring  art  and  architecture,  freedom 
of  thought  and  science;  intercourse,  knowledge,  and  prog- 
ress. 

What  tragedian  of  the  imagination  has  even  mimicked 
the  drama  of  Napoleon's  life  ?  Here  the  reader  may  see  the 
carnage  of  Wagram  or  Borodino,  and  may  thrill  with  the 
early  dreams  of  the  Corsician  soldier,  or  sadly  ponder  with 
him  at  St.  Helena.  He  may  tremble  with  Louis  XI  before 
Charles  the  Bold.  He  may  build  the  long  bridge  with  Alex- 
ander at  Tyre,  or  peer  with  covetous  eyes  on  the  Persian 
treasure  at  Susa.  He  may  watch  the  building  of  the  pyra- 
mids, and  set  up  the  tall  columns  at  Karnak.  He  may  enter 
Granada  with  Isabella,  or  see  Christina  laying  down  her 
Northern  crown.  He  may  watch  the  world-beleaguered  Fred- 
erick, now  floundering  in  blood  to  immortality,  now  turning 
a  verse  to  meet  the  tuneful  ear  of  Voltaire.  What  stage- 
played  scene  shall  so  excite  him  again,  after  he  has  beheld 
the  earth-enacted  plot  of  the  French  Revolution,  where  trage- 
dies crash  upon  each  other  like  glaciers  falling  into  Arctic 
seas! 

We  love  Herodotus  because  he  is  old  and  honest ;  Tacitus, 
because  he  is  brilliant ;  Gibbon,  because  he  is  great.  These 
are  but  brighter  stars  in  the  firmament ;  innumerable  are  the 
lesser  lights  that  twinkle.  Hardly  a  novelist  but  if  he  did 
his  work  with  probity,  he  filled  in  the  arabesquerie  which  the 
more  stately  historian  must  forego.  We  know  more  of  old 
Paris  when  we  read  Hugo's  "Hunchback  of  Notre  Dame ;" 
more  of  later  Paris  when  we  read  Dickens'  "Tale  of  Two 
Cities ;"  more  of  modern  Paris  when  we  read  Daudet's  "Im- 
mortals." 

A  love  of  History,  early  instilled,  will  not  only  acquaint 
the  child  with  human  life,  but  elevate  the  taste,  to  demand  a 
high  standard  of  entertainment.  These  volumes  are  the  in- 


to  INTRODUCTION 

dex  to  all  that  has  been  genuinely  exciting  and  instructive. 
Three  of  the  series  cover  the  general  History  of  the  World. 
Seven  other  volumes,  again,  tarry  to  give  detailed  studies  of 
exceedingly  valuable  parts  of  the  panorama.  The  series  has 
been  compiled  \vith  a  view  of  itself  acting  as  a  pleasant  and 
effective  stimr/.its  to  the  receptive  powers  of  the  mind,  in 
order  that  the  reader  may  move  into  a  position  to  scan  the 
entire  history  of  our  race. 

So  far  we  have  spoken  largely  of  the  history  of  deeds; 
more  should  be  said  of  the  history  of  thought — a  world  of 
delight  equally  keen,  a  study  no  less  beneficial.  Through  this 
lens  of  knowledge,  guided  by  such  seers  as  Lenormant,  we 
look  upon  the  stars,  and  in  the  names  of  the  constellations 
we  read  the  prehistoric  ideas  of  men.  We  consider  the  nam- 
ing of  the  days  after  the  seven  planets ;  we  read  the  ancient 
names  of  the  months  and  gather  meanings  new  to  us ;  we 
consider  the  sacred  numbers  of  twelve  and  sixty — the  sixty 
shekels,  manehs,  talents;  the  sixty  seconds,  degrees,  circles 
or  hours.  We  see  the  struggles  of  Light  and  Darkness ;  the 
grasping  of  the  cycles  of  eclipse  and  Sirian  star.  We  see  in 
geometry  the  magic  results  of  study  of  the  circle  and  its 
diameters ;  Ptolemy  hanging  the  orbs  in  the  sky ;  Copernicus 
rearranging  them;  Columbus,  their  pupil,  sailing  into  the 
abyss  of  the  sunset.  We  see  Napier  consolidating  our  fig- 
ures into  logarithms,  and  Linnaeus,  by  similar  methods,  nam- 
ing all  organic  things.  We  see  Darwin  successfully  offer  to 
man  a  hypothesis  of  animal  variation  and  form,  and  Faraday 
hard  after  an  equally  successful  hypothesis  for  Matter  and 
Motion.  Man,  who  has  harnessed  Niagara,  and  liquefied  the 
air,  stands  at  the  seaside,  bridle  in  hand,  ready  to  ensnare  the 
tides  and  banish  manual  labor  from  the  world.  If  philoso- 
phers have  written  about  the  philosophy  of  history,  they  in 
turn  must  peruse  the  history  of  philosophy,  which  already 
far  surpasses  the  wonders  of  Oriental  fable. 

It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  have  lived  many  years  to 
guide  the  footsteps  of  those  who  with  glad  countenances  are 
eagerly  pressing  upon  the  scene.  Their  advent  becomes 


W.  Es 


INTRODUCTION  v 

more  and  more  interesting  and  optimistic.  At  the  portal  we 
should  stand,  offering,  as  our  most  precious  possession,  the 
History  that  we  received  from  our  ancestors,  the  History  that 
our  own  generation  has  increased  with  its  deeds  and  adven- 
tures; the  History  into  which  each  coming  year  must  add 
even  more  remarkable  chapters. 


ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL 
HISTORY 

IMPORTANCE    OF    HISTORY 

History  is  a  record  of  the  doings  of  civilized  mankind, 
in  its  progress  toward  the  greatest  of  political  and  social 
blessings — a  rational  freedom  of  thought  and  action. 
History  deals  with  the  life  only  of  political  communities, 
or  nations,  and  not  with  races  of  men  who  have  made  lit- 
tle advance  from  a  primitive  state.  The  special  duty  of 
history  is  to  sketch  the  career  and  describe  the  condition  of 
those  great  nations  whose  ideas  and  institutions,  or  whose 
achievements  in  art,  science,  politics,  literature,  and  war 
were  remarkable  in  their  own  epoch,  or,  by  influencing 
other  nations,  helped  to  make  the  civilized  world  what  it 
is  now. 

The  Eastern  nations  did  not  reach  to  the  height  of  the 
idea  that  mankind  is,  and  ought  to  be,  free;  they  only 
knew  of  freedom  for  one — the  despot — to  whose  caprices 
they  became  victims  and  slaves.  The  Greeks  first  be- 
came conscious  of  freedom  as  the  right  of  mankind,  but 
they,  as  well  as  the  Romans,  knew  only  of  freedom  for  a 
part  of  mankind — their  own  citizens,  and  so  had  a  system 
of  slave-holding  bound  up  with  the  free  constitution  which 
those  citizens  enjoyed.  The  Teutonic  nations,  aided  by 
Christianity,  first  became  conscious  that  man,  as  such,  is 
free,  and  by  slow  degrees  slavery  was  abolished,  and  con- 
stitutional freedom  was  established  in  modern  states, 
organized  in  a  rational  way.  The  history  of  the  world  is 

an  account  of  the  growth  among  mankind  of  this  con- 
Voi,.  i— i 


sciousness  of  freedom  for  the  race.  This  is  the  grand 
aim  which  the  world's  history  has  seen,  at  least  in  part, 
attained — the  acquirement  of  freedom  for  the  heaven-born 
spirit  of  man.  On  this  altar  have  been  laid  the  sublime 
sacrifices  of  patriots  and  heroes ;  to  this  pole-star,  amid  the 
constant  change  of  conditions  and  events,  the  magnet  guid- 
ing the  track  of  this  great  laboring  sorrow-laden  bark  of 
humanity  has  been,  on  a  wide  view,  ever  true.  The 
springs  of  action  in  history  are  the  various  needs,  char- 
acters, passions,  and  talents  of  men.  Passing  to  the  pic- 
turesque view  of  this  great  subject,  we  find  that  "the 
world's  history  is  a  grand  panorama  of  events  and  changes, 
the  sight  of  which  calls  into  play  all  the  emotions  of  the 
soul  of  man — love  of  goodness,  enjoyment  of  beauty, 
admiration  of  greatness ;  hope  and  fear  for  the  results  of 
struggles  in  which  human  action  and  suffering  are 
involved ;  pity  for  the  fallen  greatness  both  of  men  and  of 
empires ;  joy  in  the  issuing  of  new  life  from  the  ashes  of 
the  funeral-pile  of  nations  that  have  consumed  themselves 
away." 

The  grand  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  world  is  the  con- 
test between  freedom  and  despotism  which  was,  in 
Grecian  history,  decided  on  the  plain  of  Marathon,  where 
the  Greeks  overthrew  the  power  of  Persia,  and  saved 
Europe  from  falling  under  the  rule  of  an  Eastern  despot. 
From  that  hour  is  was  possible  for  Europe  to  work  out  and 
to  enjoy  true  liberty  and  civilization  in  the  combination 
of  the  personal  freedom  of  the  private  citizen  with  a  will- 
ing submission  to  the  supremacy  of  public  law.  In  the 
Roman  Empire  we  have  the  spectacle  of  almost  the  whole 
civilized  world  ruled  by  one  state,  upon  a  system  adapted 
with  consummate  skill  for  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order  throughout.  When  the  Roman  Empire  perished 
under  the  pressure  of  foreign  influence,  aided  by  internal 


IMPORTANCE  OF  HISTORY  $ 

corruption  and  decay,  the  vigorous  races  of  northern  and 
central  Europe  began  a  new  development  of  civilization 
which,  combined  with  Christianity,  by  slow  degrees  made 
Europe  what  we  see  it  now.  The  shattered  fragments  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  under  the  pressure  of  the  conquering 
tribes,  assumed  new  forms,  and  new  nations  arose  to 
become  the  founders  of  the  state-system  of  Modern 
Europe. 

The  political  and  social  life  of  Greece  and  Rome  have 
directly  influenced  all  European  nations  down  to  the  pres- 
ent hour.  The  present  character  of  the  English-speaking 
race  is  closely  connected  with  the  facts  that,  at  Athens,  a 
citizen  enjoyed  absolute  political  and  social  freedom,  and 
that  in  the  Roman  system  all  personal  feelings  and  tastes 
were  subjected  to  the  rigorous  supremacy  of  absolute  law. 
All  ancient  history  leads  up,  through  Greece,  to  Rome  tri- 
umphant ;  all  modern  history  comes  down  to  us  from  Rome 
beaten  and  broken.  This  is  the  ample  vindication  of  the 
claims  of  Greek  and  Roman  history  to  the  study  and  regard 
of  modern  readers.  How  stands  the  case  with  India  and 
China,  as  contrasted  with  Greece  and  Rome  ?  The  China- 
man was,  and  is,  a  pedant;  the  Hindoo  was,  and  is,  a 
dreamer ;  the  Greek  was  a  thinker  and  an  artist ;  the  Roman 
was  a  man.  For  European  civilization,  the  pedant  could 
teach  nothing;  the  dreamer  has  done  nothing;  the  thinker 
and  artist  developed,  molded,  and  improved  himself  and 
all  around  him,  and  all  that  came  after  him ;  the  man  con- 
quered and  governed  the  world. 

It  is  interesting  and  important  to  notice  the  geographi- 
cal conditions  under  which  great  nations  have  arisen. 
This  has  always  occurred  either  in  valley-plains,  the 
regions  traversed  and  watered  by  some  great  river  and  its 
tributaries,  or  on  a  coast  which  has  afforded  the  means 
of  commercial  intercourse  with  other  nations.  Thus 


4         ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

India  and  China  consist  of  valley-plains,  and  have  given 
rise  to  great  nations,  lying  beyond  the  scope  of  the  general 
history  of  the  world,  though  curious  and  interesting  in 
themselves.  Babylonia,  which  had  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Tigris  for  its  rivers,  was  one  of  the  great  empires  of  old. 
Egypt  was  watered  by  the  Nile.  In  all  these  regions, 
agriculture  provided  plenteous  food  for  man,  and  soon 
gave  rise  to  property  in  land ;  this  property  was  the  origin 
of  legal  relations,  and  so  we  have  the  basis  of  a  state.  The 
chief  seat  of  the  history  of  the  ancient  world  was  the  great 
Mediterranean  Sea.  "On  its  shores,"  says  Hegel,  "lie 
Greece,  a  focus  of  light ;  Syria,  the  center  of  Judaism  and 
of  Christianity;  southeast,  not  far  away,  are  Mecca  and 
Medina,  cradle  of  the  Mussulman  faith ;  Rome,  Carthage, 
Alexandria,  lay  all  on  the  Mediterranean,  mighty  heart  of 
the  old  world.  Around  this  great  uniting  sea,  a  bond 
between  the  three  great  continents  of  the  eastern  half  of 
this  our  globe,  all  ancient  history  of  the  higher  value 
gathers."  Nations  really  great  in  arts  and  arms,  in  polity 
and  learning,  have  arisen  only  in  the  temperate  zone  of 
the  earth.  The  reason  is  that  there  alone  has  nature 
allowed  man  to  devote  his  time  and  powers  to  self-culture. 
In  the  torrid  and  the  frigid  zones,  the  struggle  with  the 
forces  of  nature  is  too  fierce  and  constant  to  allow  men  to 
do  more  than  reach  a  certain  point  of  civilization. 


THE    FAMILIES    AND    RACES    OF    MANKIND 

Ethnologists  have  divided  mankind  into  five  leading 
families — the  Caucasian,  Mongolian  or  Tartar,  Negro  or 
Ethiopian,  Malay,  and  American— or,  according  to  color, 
the  white,  yellow,  black,  brown,  and  red  races.  The 
epithet  Caucasian  is  taken  from  the  mountain-range 
between  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas,  near  to  which  region 


FAMILIES  AND  RACES  5 

the  finest  specimens  of  man — regarded  physically — have 
always  been  found.  Mongolian  is  derived  from  the  wan- 
dering races  who  inhabit  the  plateaux  of  Central  Asia. 
Negro  is  the  Spanish  word  for  black.  Malay  is  connected 
with  the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  where  some  of  the  race 
founded  a. state  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  American  is 
applied  to  the  copper-colored  race  found  in  that  continent 
when  it  was  discovered. 

The  Caucasian  race  has  now  spread,  through  coloniza- 
tion, over  the  whole  world,  but  its  proper  region  is  Europe, 
Western  Asia,  and  the  northern  strip  of  Africa.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  people  of  Europe  belong  to  the  Caucasian 
family,  the  other  tenth  consisting  of  the  Turks,  the 
Magyars  (in  Hungary),  the  Finns,  the  Laplanders,  and 
the  pagan  tribe  called  Samoyeds  in  the  extreme  northeast 
of  European  Russia.  In  Asia,  the  Caucasians  include  the 
Arabs,  the  Persians,  the  Afghans,  and  the  Hindoos.  In 
Africa,  the  Caucasians  are  spread  over  the  whole  north, 
from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  south  of  the  Sahara  Desert, 
and  to  the  farthest  border  of  Abyssinia.  In  North  and 
South  America  two-thirds  of  the  people  are  now  Cauca- 
sian. In  Australia  and  New  Zealand  the  Caucasian  colon- 
ists have  almost  extinguished  the  native  races. 

The  Mongolian  family  includes  the  Mongols  proper, 
or  the  wandering  and  settled  tribes  between  China  and 
Siberia;  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  Burmese,  Siamese,  and 
other  peoples  in  the  southeast  and  east  of  Asia,  and  the 
native  tribes  of  the  Siberian  plains.  The  Turks,  Magyars, 
Finns,  Laplanders,  and  Samoyeds,  in  Europe,  and  the 
Esquimaux,  in  America,  are  all  Mongolian. 

The  proper  home  of  the  Negro  race  is  Africa,  to  the 
south  of  the  Sahara.  The  Malay  tribes  inhabit  the 
peninsula  of  Malacca  and  the  adjacent  islands,  and  include 
the  people  of  Madagascar,  the  New  Zealanders,  and 


6         ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  dwellers  in  most  of  the  Polynesian  archipelagoes.  The 
American  or  red  variety  of  mankind  includes  the  native 
races  of  North  and  South  America. 

Of  all  these  races  of  mankind  the  only  one  whose  his- 
tory is  important  for  us  is  the  Caucasian  or  white  race, 
to  which  belong  the  people  of  those  states  and  empires 
of  old — the  Egyptian,  the  Assyrian,  the  Babylonian,  the 
Hebrew,  the  Phoenician,  the  Hindoo,  the  Persian,  the 
Greek,  and  the  Roman.  This  race  is  historical,  because  it 
displays  the  most  highly  civilized  type  of  mankind — that 
type  whose  progress  and  achievements  are  the  true  prov- 
ince of  history.  This  grand  stock — the  Caucasian  race — 
has  been  classified  into  three  main  branches — the  Aryan, 
or  Indo-European,  the  Semitic  and  the  Hamitic.  The  term 
Aryan  is  derived  either  from  one  ancient  word  implying 
that  they  were  "cultivators  of  the  soil,"  or  from  another 
meaning  "worthy,  noble."  The  earliest  known  home  of 
the  Aryan  people  was  the  high  table-land  of  Central  Asia, 
near  the  sources  of  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes.  The  great 
philologist  Max  Miiller  says  that  "the  parent-stock  (from 
whom  all  the  Aryan  tribes  have  sprung)  was  a  small  clan 
settled  probably  on  the  highest  elevation  of  Central  Asia, 
speaking  a  language  not  yet  Sanskrit,  or  Greek,  or  Ger- 
man, but  containing  the  dialectic  roots  of  all.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  ancestors  of  the  Celts,  the  Ger- 
mans, the  Slavonians,  the  Greeks  and  Italians,  the  Per- 
sians and  Hindoos  were  living  together,  separate  from  the 
ancestors  of  the  Semitic  race."  The  Semitic  branch  is  so 
called  from  Shem,  son  of  Noah,  described  in  the  Bible  as 
ancestor  of  some  of  the  nations  which  it  includes.  The 
Hamitic  branch  is  named  from  Ham,  the  son  of  Noah,  and 
ancestor  of  some  of  its  peoples.  The  Aryan  branch 
includes  nearly  all  the  present  and  past  nations  of  Europe 
-—the  Greeks,  Latins,  Teutons  or  Germans  (including  the. 


FAMILIES  AND  RACES  7 

English  race),  Celts  and  Slavonians,  as  well  as  three 
Asiatic  peoples — the  Hindoos,  the  Persians,  and  the 
Afghans.  The  Semitic  branch  includes,  as  its  chief  his- 
torical representatives,  the  Hebrews,  Phoenicians,  Assy- 
rians, Arabs,  and  Babylonians.  The  Hamitic  branch  is 
represented  in  history  by  one  great  ancient  nation — the 
Egyptians. 

A  leading  part  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  been,  and 
it  still,  played  by  the  Aryan  nations.  The  only  great 
Hamitic  nation — the  Egyptians — became  highly  civil- 
ized at  a  very  early  time,  and  exerted  a  marked  influence 
on  others,  and  so  on  the  civilization  of  succeeding  ages. 
The  Semitic  race  is  highly  distinguished  in  the  records  of 
religious  belief,  because  with  them  originated  three  faiths 
whose  main  doctrine  is  that  there  is  but  one  God — namely, 
the  Jewish,  the  Christian,  and  the  Mahometan.  Apart 
from  this,  and  with  the  special  exception  of  the  ancient 
Phoenicians,  the  Semitic  nations  have  not  done  so  much  for 
mankind  as  the  Aryan.  They  have  not  been  generally 
distinguished  for  progress  and  enterprise,  but  have  mainly 
kept  to  their  old  home  between  the  Mediterranean,  the 
river  Tigris,  and  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  the  Aryans  that  have 
been  the  parents  of  new  nations,  and  that  have  reached 
the  highest  point  of  intellectual  development,  as  shown  in 
their  political  freedom,  and  in  their  science,  literature 
and  art. 

The  glory  of  the  Aryan  element  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman,  the  modern  German, 
Englishman,  American  and  Frenchman  are  all  of  Aryan 
race.  The  Caucasian  presents  us  with  the  highest  type 
among  the  five  families  of  man :  the  Aryan  branch  of  the 
Caucasian  family  presents  us  with  the  noblest  pattern  of 
that  highest  type.  The  Aryan  in  history  shows  all  that  is 


8         ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

most  worthy  of  renown  in  energy,  and  enterprise,  and  skill, 
and  claims  of  right  the  foremost  place  on  history's  page. 

At  some  remote  period  of  the  past  the  forefathers  of 
the  Hindoos  and  the  Persians  and  of  nearly  all  the  Euro- 
pean nations  were  one  people,  living  together  on  the 
plateau  north  and  northwest  of  the  Himalaya  Mountains. 
Under  the  pressure  of  numbers,  and  spurred  on  by  their 
own  enterprising  nature,  these  Aryan  peoples  began  and 
for  ages  continued  to  move,  mainly  westward,  from  their 
ancestral  seats.  Of  this  great  original  stock  a  portion 
went  southward  across  the  Himalayas,  and  peopled  Hin- 
dostan,  Persia,  and  the  intervening  lands ;  the  other  por- 
tion, at  different  times  and  long  intervals,  came  westward 
into  Europe.  The  Celts  were  the  first  comers  into 
Europe  from  among  the  Aryan  race.  They  appear  to 
have  spread  themselves  over  a  great  part  of  the  continent ; 
but  as  a  distinct  people  they  are  now  only  found  inhabiting 
parts  of  the  British  Isles  and  France.  Later  came  the 
Italic — Latin — tribes,  who  drove  the  Celts  out  of  the  pen- 
insula now  known  as  Italy;  the  Hellenic — or  Grecian — 
tribes,  who  occupied  the  peninsula  of  Greece ;  the  Teutonic 
tribes,  who  drove  out  the  Celts  from  Central  Europe,  and 
finally  occupied  Denmark — Sweden  and  Norway.  The 
last  comers  of  the  Aryans  were  the  Lithuanians  and 
Slavonians — the  Slavonians  being  now  spread  over  Rus- 
sia, Poland,  and  Bohemia,  while  the  Lithuanians  settled 
on  the  Baltic  Coast,  partly  in  Prussia,  partly  in  Russia. 
The  greatest  part  of  these  movements  took  place 
before  the  dawn  of  history,  and  thus  was  Europe  gradually 
overspread  by  successive  waves  of  Aryan  settlement. 

The  proof  is  here  simple  and  decisive.  The  compar- 
ison of  words  in  Sanskrit,  the  ancient  language  of  the 
Hindoos;  Zend,  the  olden  speech  of  Persia;  Greek,  Latin, 


FAMILIES  AND  RACES  9 

English,  and  other  tongues,  has  shown  that  all  these  lan- 
guages come  from  a  distant  common  original,  spoken  by 
some  race  yet  unparted  by  migration.  In  all,  or  nearly  all, 
these  tongues,  the  names  of  common  things  and  persons, 
the  words  expressing  simple  implements  and  actions,  the 
words  for  family  relations,  such  as  father,  sister,  mother, 
brother,  daughter,  son,  the  earlier  numerals,  the  pronouns, 
the  very  endings  of  the  nouns  and  verbs,  are  substantially 
the  same.  Accident  could  not  have  caused  this  phenome- 
non; and,  since  many  of  the  nations  speaking  thus  have 
for  long  ages  been  parted  from  each  other  by  vast  stretches 
of  the  earth's  broad  surface,  they  could  not  learn  them, 
in  historic  times,  one  from  another.  Borrowing  and  imi- 
tation being  thus  excluded,  the  only  possible  account  is  that 
these  words  and  forms  were  carried  with  them  by  the 
migratory  Aryan  tribes  as  part  of  the  possessions  once 
shared  by  all  in  their  one  original  home.  The  study  of 
these  Aryan  tongues  has  also  told  what  progress  had  been 
made  by  this,  the  king  of  races,  before  the  time  arrived 
for  starting  south  and  west,  to  fill,  to  conquer,  and  to 
civilize  the  Western  world.  Whatever  words  are  alike  in 
all  or  nearly  all  these  Aryan  tongues,  must  be  the  names 
of  implements,  or  institutions,  or  ideas,  used,  started,  or 
conceived  before  the  first  wave  of  migration  made  its  way. 
We  thus  learn  that,  at  that  far-distant  time,  the  Aryans 
had  houses,  ploughed  the  earth,  and  ground  their  corn  in 
mills.  The  family  life  was  settled — basis  as  it  is  of  all 
society  and  law.  The  Aryans  had  sheep  and  herds  of  cat- 
tle, horses,  and  dogs,  and  goats,  and  bees;  they  drank  a 
beverage  made  of  honey ;  knew  and  could  work  in  copper, 
silver,  gold;  fought  with  the  sword  and  bow;  had  the 
beginnings  of  kingly  rule ;  looked  up  and  worshiped  either 
the  sky  itself,  or  One  whom  they  regarded  as  the  God  who 


io       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

ruled  there.     Thus  far  above  the  savage  state  the  Aryan 
race  had  risen. 

All  history  is  really  one  unbroken  whole,  but  for  prac- 
tical convenience  it  has  been  divided  into  Ancient  History, 
ending  with  the  breaking  up  of  the  dominion  of  Rome  in 
the  Fifth  Century  (A.  D.  476)  ;  Mediaeval  History,  from 
the  downfall  of  Rome  to  about  the  middle  of  the  Fifteenth 
Century;  and  Modern  History,  from  that  part  of  the 
Fifteenth  Century  to  the  present  day. 


CHINA 

China  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  strangest  of  nations.  At 
a  very  early  period  she  advanced  to  the  state  in  which 
she  now  is,  with  the  exclusion  of  all  change  in  her  system, 
and  with  an  apparent  incapacity  for  vital  progress.  China 
has  always  been  a  subject  of  marvel  to  Europeans,  as  a 
country  which,  self-originated,  appeared  to  have  no  con- 
nection with  the  outer  world.  Recently  some  eminent 
scholars  have  maintained  that  by  researches  into  the  most 
ancient  writings  of  the  Chinese  they  have  been  able  to  dis- 
cover an  early  communication  or  connection  between 
China  and  Western  Asia,  and  that  the  culture  of  China 
must  have  borrowed  various  elements  from  an  earlier  civil- 
ization in  Babylonia.  The  people  belong  to  the  Mon- 
golian family  of  man. 

China  proper,  sloping  eastward  from  a  mountainous 
interior,  sinks  by  successive  terraces  into  a  vast  level  tract 
of  unequaled  fertility,  formed  by  the  alluvial  deposits  of 
its  great  rivers,  the  Yang-tse  ("Son  of  the  Ocean"),  and 
the  Hoang-ho  ("Yellow  River,"  from  the  color  of  its 
mud).  Its  temperate  climate  and  rich  soil,  productive  in 
wheat,  barley,  rice,  roots,  and  green  crops,  favored  the 


CHINA  ii 

early  and  rapid  growth  in  numbers  of  a  people  dis- 
tinguished by  skill  and  industry  in  agriculture. 

The  traditions  of  China,  setting  aside  fabulous  absurd- 
ities, go  back  to  3,000  years  before  Christ,  and  one  of  their 
sacred  books,  the  Shu-king  (treating  of  history  and  of  the 
government  and  laws  of  the  ancient  monarchs),  begins 
with  the  Emperor  Yao,  2357  B.  C.  About  600  B.  C. 
the  philosopher  Lao-tse  was  born.  He  is  famous  as  the 
founder  of  a  part  of  Chinese  religion,  called  "Taou-tse" 
or  "Worship  of  Reason,"  and  as  the  author  of  the  "Tao-te- 
king"  or  "Book  of  Reason  and  Virtue."  He  teaches  a 
kind  of  Deism  in  theology,  and  a  sort  of  Stoicism  in  prac- 
tical philosophy. 

About  550  B.  C.  the  great  philosopher  Confucius  was 
born.  His  name  is  a  Latinized  form  of  the  Chinese  word 
"Kong-fu-tse,  i.  e.,  "the  teacher,  Kong."  This  great 
teacher  of  religion  and  morals  is  still  venerated  by  his 
countrymen.  He  was  of  royal  descent,  and  held  high 
office  at  court,  which  he  left  to  become  the  founder  of  a 
philosophical  sect  and  an  earnest  instructor  of  the  people. 
After  his  death,  about  B.  C.  480,  the  Chinese  worshiped 
him  as  a  god.  He  taught  that  there  was  but  one  God 
and  one  Emperor,  to  whom  all  rulers  of  other  nations  are 
as  vassals.  His  moral  teaching  dwelt  on  reverence  for 
ancestors,  benevolence,  justice,  virtue,  and  honesty,  the 
observance  of  all  usages  and  customs  once  introduced,  rev- 
erence for  old  age,  and  strict  discipline  for  children.  He 
inculcated  the  peaceful  virtues  of  domestic  life,  and  justice 
and  humanity  as  duties  of  monarchs.  He  praises  also  the 
delights  of  friendship,  and  teaches  the  forgiveness  of 
offences.  He  revised  the  five  Kings  or  sacred  books  of 
the  Chinese,  documents  similar,  as  regards  the  estimation 
in  which  they  are  held  in  China,  to  the  Mosaic  records  of 
the  Jews,  or  to  the  Vedas  of  the  Hindoos,  and  the 


12        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Homeric  poems  of  the  Greeks.  These  old  books  are  the 
foundation  of  all  Chinese  studies.  Besides  the  Shu-king, 
there  are  the  Y-king,  a  metaphysical  work ;  the  Shi-king, 
a  book  of  ancient  poems ;  the  Li-king,  dealing  with  the  cus- 
toms and  ceremonial  observances  connected  with  the 
Emperor  and  the  state  functionaries ;  and  the  Tshun-tsin, 
a  history  of  China  in  the  time  of  Confucius. 

In  the  Third  Century  B.  C.  the  Great  Wall  of  China, 
1,500  miles  in  length,  was  built  on  the  northern  frontier, 
to  defend  it  against  the  inroads  of  the  Huns,  who,  how- 
ever, broke  through  the  wall  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sec- 
ond Century  B.  C.  and  overran  the  country.  The  Chinese 
Emperors  bought  off  the  barbarians  by  a  regular  tribute 
of  money  and  silk,  as  in  England  Ethelred  II  paid  Dane- 
geld  to  his  foes. 

The  famous  Mongol  Emperor  Jenghis  Khan,  who 
reigned  from  A.  D.  1206  to  1227,  invaded  China,  took  the 
royal  city  of  Pekin,  and  annexed  some  of  the  northern 
provinces.  In  A.  D.  1260  the  Mongol  Emperor  Kublai 
Khan,  a  grandson  of  Jenghis,  conquered  the  whole  of 
Northern  China,  to  which,  in  1279,  he  added  Southern 
China,  and  so  became  the  ruler  of  the  whole  country. 
Kublai  Khan  thus  founded  the  Mongol  dynasty  of  China, 
and  removed  the  capital  from  Nankin  to  Pekin. 

At  this  time  an  interesting  connection  between  China 
and  Europe  arose.  The  celebrated  Venetian  traveler, 
Marco  Polo,  explored  the  strange  Eastern  land  for  the 
first  time,  and  lived  for  seventeen  years  at  the  court  of 
Kublai  Khan,  about  whom  he  gives  some  interesting  infor- 
mation in  the  trustworthy  book  of  travels  which  his  own 
age  rejected  as  fabulous. 

About  the  middle  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  the 
Manchoos,  from  the  northeast,  invaded  and  conquered  the 
cpuntry  and  established  the  Manchoo  dynasty,  which  still. 


CHINA  13 

reigns  there,  the  language  of  the  conquerors  being  that 
used  at  court  and  for  official  documents. 

In  recent  times  the  East  India  Company  established  a 
trade  with  China,  and  in  1793  Lord  Macartney  was  sent 
by  George  III  as  Ambassador.  He  had  several  inter- 
views with  the  Emperor,  but  the  mission  had  no  result 
beyond  the  insight  it  gave  into  Chinese  character  and  cus- 
toms. In  1816  Lord  Amherst's  embassy  tried  to  obtain 
permission  for  a  British  Minister  to  reside  at  Pekin,  and 
sought  the  opening  of  ports  on  the  northern  coast  to 
British  trade.  Lord  Amherst  did  not  even  succeed  in  see- 
ing the  Chinese  Emperor,  owing  to  his  refusal  to  perform 
the  ceremony  of  Koutou,  or  prostration  at  the  Celestial 
ruler's  feet,  and  returned  to  England  with  a  letter  to  the 
Prince  Regent,  which  contained  the  words,  "I  have  sent 
thine  ambassadors  back  to  their  own  country  without 
punishing  them  for  the  high  crime  they  have  committed" 
(in  approaching  me) .  This  revealed  the  secret  of  China's 
failure  to  make  real  advances  from  her  stationary  condi- 
tion— the  insanity  of  self-conceit  and  the  stolid  refusal  of 
intercourse  with  other  nations.  The  overcoming  of  that 
reserve  by  force  and  the  political  and  commercial  encroach- 
ments of  the  Caucasian  race  will  be  treated  in  its  proper 
place  in  modern  history. 

If  the  state  and  the  upper  classes  of  China  can  be  said 
to  have  any  religion  at  all,  it  is  Confucianism,  a  system  of 
morality  and  philosophy  which  has  little  or  nothing  to  do 
with  a  creed  in  the  true  sense.  The  lower  classes  believe 
to  some  extent  in  the  religion  called  Buddhism,  introduced 
from  India  in  the  First  Century  A.  D.  It  is  called  in 
China  the  "religion  of  Fo,"  another  name  for  Buddha,  and 
is  a  system  of  materialism  which  teaches  the  annihilation 
of  man  after  death,  mixed  with  gross  idolatry  and  super- 
stition. There  is  also  a  sect  devoted  to  the  worship  of 


M 

Lao-tse,  the  philosopher.  In  fact,  however,  the  ordinary 
Chinaman  has  no  religion  whatever,  and  almost  universal 
indifference  to  all  creeds  prevails. 

In  China  a  patriarchal  despotism  is  the  system  of  rule. 
The  laws  of  the  state  are  partly  civil  ordinances  and  partly 
moral  requirements  reaching  to  the  inner  self  of  every 
citizen.  The  state  is  treated  as  virtually  one  great  family, 
and  the  people  regard  themselves  as  children  of  the  state. 
The  whole  development  of  the  civil  and  social  polity  is  a 
grotesque  mixture  of  reason  and  absurdity.  An  exagger- 
ated filial  reverence  causes  the  merits  of  a  son  to  be 
attributed  to  his  dead  father,  and  ancestors  have  titles  of 
honor  bestowed  upon  them  for  the  good  deeds  of  their 
posterity.  The  Emperor  is  supposed  to  direct  the  whole 
business  of  the  state,  for  which  end  the  Imperial  Princes 
are  educated  on  a  strict  system  that  has  furnished  China 
with  a  succession  of  pedantic  Solomons.  There  is  no 
proper  nobility — official  station,  based  entirely  upon  com- 
petitive examinations,  being  the  only  rank  recognized  out- 
side the  Imperial  family.  The  administration  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  exercised,  under  the  Emperor,  by  the  high 
officials  called  Mandarins,  of  two  classes,  learned  (the  civil 
officers)  and  military.  The  highest  administrative  body 
is  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  composed  of  the  most  learned 
and  able  men.  There  is  a  permanent  board  of  Censors, 
who  exercise  a  strict  supervision  in  all  matters  of  govern- 
ment and  over  the  public  and  private  conduct  of  the  Man- 
darins, reporting  thereon  direct  to  the  Emperor.  The 
monarch  is  the  center  round  which  everything  turns,  and 
as  the  well-being  of  the  state  is  made  to  depend  on  him,  the 
succession  of  a  slothful  and  unprincipled  ruler  is  the  signal 
for  an  all-pervading  corruption.  The  officers  of  govern- 
ment are  supposed  to  have  no  conscience  or  honor  of  their 
own  to  keep  them  to  duty,  but  only  external  Mandates, 


CHINA  15 

which,  even  with  the  highest  officials,  are  enforced  by  the 
use  of  the  stick.  Every  mandarin  can  inflict  blows  with 
the  bamboo,  and  Ministers  and  Viceroys  are  punished  in 
this  way.  At  every  turn,  in  a  system  in  some  points  excel- 
lent, but  the  product  of  a  prosaic  understanding,  without 
regard  to  sentiment,  honor,  or  free-will,  we  are  met  in 
China  by  pedantic  pettiness  and  degrading  folly. 

In  respect  of  civilization  the  Chinese  have  ever  been  a 
nation  of  ingenious  and  precocious  children  who  have 
never  succeeded  in  growing  up.  They  are  said  to  have 
known  the  art  of  making  paper  as  early  as  the  First  Cen- 
tury A.  D.,  and  to  have  practiced  printing  from  wooden 
blocks,  which  they  still  continue  to  do,  as  early  as  the 
Seventh  or  Eighth  Century.  They  were  famous  at  a  very 
early  period  for  the  porcelain,  which  has  made  the  name  of 
their  country  a  generic  term  for  all  such  fine  and  beautiful 
earthenware.  Their  robes  of  woven  silk  were  worn  by 
the  luxurious  Roman  ladies  under  the  early  Empire,  and 
they  have  been  long  noted  for  their  skill  in  lacquered  ware 
and  their  delicacy  of  carving  in  wood,  ivory,  tortoise-shell, 
and  mother-of-pearl. 

They  profess  to  hold  the  sciences  in  great  honor,  and 
one  of  the  highest  governmental  boards  is  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  What  they  call  science,  however,  is  merely  a 
collection  of  ill-arranged  facts  and  beliefs;  it  is  pursued 
without  regard  to  intellectual  ends,  and  hindered  in  prog- 
ress to  what  is  higher  by  a  curious,  cumbersome,  and 
clumsy  language.  The  Chinese  tongue  has  never  attained 
to  the  possession  of  an  alphabet,  which,  with  nations  of  the 
higher  development,  has  always  been  the  first  step  toward 
the  acquirement  of  a  rational  instrument  for  the  expres- 
sion of  thought.  Each  Chinese  character  represents  a 
word,  and  in  writing  and  printing  the  characters  are  not 
arranged  horizontally  either  from  left  to  right  as  in  Euro- 


16        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

pean  languages,  or  from  right  to  left  as  in  Hebrew  and  the 
cognate  languages,  but  in  vertical  columns,  to  be  read 
from  top  to  bottom.  China's  want  of  scientific  attain- 
ments in  astronomy  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  for  hun- 
dreds of  years  the  Chinese  calendars  have  been  made  by 
Europeans ;  and  in  medicine,  by  the  theory  that  the  beating 
of  the  pulse  alone  can  tell  the  physician  the  cause  and 
locality  of  the  disease. 

It  is  clear  enough  that  Europe  and  true  civilization 
had  nothing  to  gain,  and  have  gained  nothing,  in  culture, 
from  a  country  where  400  millions  of  people  are  treated 
like  children;  where  there  is  no  originality  and  no  free- 
will; where  no  progress,  save  from  outward  impulse,  is 
possible.  The  outcome  of  the  elaborate  and  minute  regu- 
lations, of  the  severe  and  constant  competitive  examina- 
tions, of  the  Chinese  system  is  simply,  that  after  the  lapse 
of  4,000  years,  they  still  have  no  convenient  written 
language;  that,  pretending  to  be  astronomers,  they  know 
not  how  to  use  the  telescope ;  that  the  medical  art  is  a  mere 
ignorant  superstition ;  and  that  the  artist  cannot  shade  a 
drawing,  and  has  no  notion  of  perspective.  The  super- 
ficial cleverness  of  handiwork  displayed  by  Chinese  artisans 
serves  but  to  heighten  the  effect  of  the  ludicrous  produced 
on  the  European  mind  by  the  paltry  results  of  a  preten- 
tious, antiquated,  and  inherently  unprogressive  order  of 
civilization. 

INDIA 

Indian  civilization,  like  that  of  China,  has  contributed 
little  or  nothing  to  the  culture  of  the  Western  world. 
From  the  prosaic  pedantry  of  China,  however,  we  pass, 
in  India,  to  a  region  where  fancy  and  sensibility  have  held 
sway,  though  the  absence  of  energy,  and  of  true  human 
dignity  and  freedom,  has  prevented  the  people  from 


INDIA  17 

exhibiting  historical  progress  of  the  highest  order.  Indian 
records  present  us  with  no  political  action;  the  people 
have  achieved  no  foreign  conquests,  and  have  repeatedly 
succumbed  to  foreign  invasion.  They  are  a  people  of 
dreams,  not  of  deeds. 

In  regard  to  general  history,  India  has  been  an  object 
of  desire  to  other  nations  from  very  early  times,  as  a  land 
teeming  with  riches  and  marvels ;  the  treasures  of  nature, 
such  as  pearls,  perfumes,  diamonds,  elephants,  gold ;  and 
treasures  of  wisdom  in  her  sacred  books.  Alexander  the 
Great  was  the  first  European  recorded  to  have  arrived 
there  by  land ;  in  modern  times  the  European  nations  first 
made  their  way  to  India  by  sea  round  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  The  Hindoos  are  one  of  the  three  Aryan  races  of 
Asia,  and  probably  crossed  the  Indus  into  the  rich  alluvial 
river-plain  of  the  Ganges  about  2,000  years  B.  C.  They 
dispossessed  the  peoples,  probably  of  Tartar  origin,  to  the 
north  of  the  River  Nerbudda,  and  gradually  penetrated 
the  great  southern  peninsula  known  as  the  Deccan.  The 
dark-skinned  aboriginal  natives  were  by  no  means  exterm- 
inated, and  their  descendants,  in  the  persons  of  the  hill- 
tribes  and  others,  amount  to  many  millions. 

India  first  came  into  historical  connection  with  Europe 
at  the  invasion  of  Alexander  the  Great  in  B.  C.  327.  The 
Macedonian  conqueror  did  not  go  far  beyond  the  Indus, 
and,  after  defeating  a  king  named  Porus,  returned  to  Per- 
sia by  way  of  the  Indus  and  the  sea. 

Early  in  the  Tenth  Century  A.  D.  Mohammedan  invas- 
ions of  India,  through  Afghanistan,  began,  and  early  in 
the  Thirteenth  Century  an  Afghan  dynasty  was  estab- 
lished at  Delhi,  and  northern  India  was  subdued. 

During  the  Thirteenth  Century  the  Mongols  of  the 
Empire  of  Jenghis  Khan  invaded  India  and  met  with 

many  successes  and  defeats.     In  1398  the  great  Tartar 
VOL.  i — 2 


i8       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

conqueror,  Tamerlane,  took  and  sacked  Delhi,  and,  after 
overrunning  the  land  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges,  retired 
and  left  anarchy  and  misery  behind  him. 

In  1526  Sultan  Baber,  a  descendant  of  Tamerlane, 
founded  the  Mogul  Empire  in  India.  His  grandson, 
Akbar,  reigned  from  1556  to  1607,  and  extended  his  power 
over  most  of  the  peninsula,  being  distinguished  by  his 
justice  and  his  tolerance  in  matters  of  religion.  Akbar's 
son,  Jehanghir,  received  in  1615  the  English  Ambassador, 
Sir  Thomas  Roe,  despatched  by  James  I;  Jehanghir's  son, 
Shah  Jehan,  displayed  great  architectural  magnificence, 
culminating  in  the  exquisite  Taj  Mahal  ("Crown  of 
Empires")  at  Agra,  a  mausoleum  of  white  marble  built 
for  the  remains  of  his  favorite  wife.  During  his  reign, 
which  ended  in  1658,  the  Mahrattas  began  to  be  formidable 
in  Southern  India.  The  history  of  British  presence  in 
India  begins  at  about  this  time,  and  the  commercial  con- 
nection of  other  European  nations  with  the  Hindoos  will 
be  noticed  in  its  proper  place. 

In  India  we  see  an  essential  advance,  in  theory,  from 
the  Chinese  state  of  a  dead-level  of  equality  for  all  below 
the  Emperors.  In  spite  of  the  despotic  power  of  the 
ruler  are  found  also  different  ranks  and  orders  of  men. 
These  distinctions  are  the  Castes,  established  in  accordance 
with  religious  doctrine,  and  viewed  by  the  people,  at  last, 
as  natural  distinctions.  The  very  ancient  book  of  Hindoo 
laws,  called  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  regulates  these  class- 
divisions  of  society.  In  later  times  many  minute  subdi- 
visions of  caste  have  arisen,  but  there  were  originally  four 
only :  The  Brahmins,  the  order  of  men  devoted  to  religion 
and  philosophy ;  the  Shatryas,  or  military  and  governing 
class;  the  Vaisyas,  or  professional  and  mercantile  class; 
the  Sudras,  or  lower-class  traders,  artisans,  and  field- 
laborers.  The  rigid  stereotyped  character  of  these  order? 


INDIA  19 

caused  the  people  of  India  to  be  spiritual  slaves.  Into 
his  caste  a  man  was  born,  and  bound  to  it  for  life,  without 
regard  to  poverty  or  riches,  talents,  character,  or  skill. 
Thus  life  and  energy  were  fettered ;  the  individual  could 
not  make  his  own  position.  Nature  had  for  ever  settled 
it  for  him.  Human  dignity  and  human  feeling  were 
bound  up  in  the  separate  castes,  and  so  true  expansive 
morality  was  unknown ;  the  spirit  of  man  wandered  into 
the  world  of  dreams,  and  political  progress  was  impossible. 

Government  in  India,  before  its  conquest  by  the  Eng- 
lish, was  nothing  but  the  most  arbitrary,  wicked,  and 
degrading  despotism,  unchecked  by  any  rule  of  morality 
or  religion — a  condition  worse  than  that  of  China  under 
the  worst  of  Emperors.  The  people  were  degraded  even 
below  a  feeling  of  true  resentment  against  oppression; 
much  less  were  they  capable  of  any  manly  attempt  to 
throw  off  the  yoke. 

The  prevailing  religions  of  India  are  Brahminism, 
Mohammedanism,  and  Buddhism.  More  than  two-thirds 
of  the  people  are  supposed  to  hold  the  Brahminical  creed, 
more  than  one-fourth  are  Mohammedans,  and  the  rest  are 
mainly  Buddhists,  with  a  small  fraction  of  Christians. 

Brahminism  is  the  oldest  religion,  and  its  tenets  are 
contained  in  the  sacred  books  called  Vedas,  of  which  the 
oldest,  the  Rig- Veda,  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  ancient 
literary  documents  in  existence.  The  pure  Deism  of  the 
older  form  of  this  religion  had  for  its  leading  doctrine 
that  of  an  all-pervading  mind,  from  which  the  universe 
took  its  rise.  Then  came  a  belief  in  three  deities,  or  diverse 
forms  of  the  same  universal  deity,  viz.,  Brahma,  or  the 
Creator;  Vishnu,  or  the  Preserver;  and  Siva,  the 
Destroyer.  This  was  further  corrupted  into  a  pantheism, 
which  sees  a  god  in  everything — in  sun,  moon,  stars,  the 
Ganges,  the  Indus,  beasts  ^and  flowers.  In  its  higher 


*>       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

development,  Brahminism  holds  that  the  human  soul  is  of 
the  same  nature  with  the  supreme  being,  and  that  its  des- 
tiny is  to  be  reunited  with  him.  This  led  to  the  great  doc- 
trine of  metempsychosis,  or  transmigration  of  souls,  which 
is  necessary  to  purify  the  human  soul  for  union  with  the 
divine.  According  to  this  view,  man's  soul  in  this  world 
is  united  to  the  body  in  a  state  of  trial,  which  needs  prayer, 
penance,  sacrifice,  and  purification.  If  these  are  neglected, 
then  the  human  soul,  after  death,  is  joined  to  the  body  of 
some  lower  animal,  and  begins  a  fresh  course  of  probation. 
In  popular  practice,  the  grossest  idolatry  and  superstition, 
with  a  cowardly  and  selfish  disregard  of  human  life,  have 
largely  prevailed  alongside  of  the  philosophical  tenets  of 
the  educated  class.  Mohammedanism  was  introduced  by 
conquering  armies  of  Islam's  prophets  early  in  the  Tenth 
Century  A.  D. 

Buddhism  arose  about  550  B.  C,  and  derives  its  name 
from  Buddha,  or  the  Buddha  ("the  enlightened  one"),  a 
surname  bestowed  upon  its  founder  Gautama,  a  Hindoo  of 
high  rank,  who  developed  his  creed  in  retired  meditation, 
and  began  to  teach  it  in  opposition  to  Brahminism.  This 
religion  recognizes  no  supreme  being;  it  insists  on  prac- 
tical morality;  teaches  the  transmigration  of  souls,  and 
regards  annihilation  as  the  good  man's  final  reward. 

The  Sanskrit  tongue  was  spoken  by  the  ancient  Hin- 
doos, but  has  been  in  disuse,  save  as  a  literary  language,  for 
over  2,000  years.  From  it  most  of  the  numerous  Hindoo 
dialects  are  derived.  Its  condition  is  a  testimony  to  the  high 
intelligence  of  the  Aryans  who  peopled  India.  The  name  of 
this  elder  sister  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  Persian,  Slavonic, 
Teutonic,  and  Celtic  tongues  is  derived  from  sam,  "with," 
and  krita,  "made,"  meaning  "carefully  constructed"  or 
"symmetrically  formed."  It  is  rich  in  inflectional  forms 
and  very  flexible,  and  it  has  a  boundless  wealth  of  epithets. 
The  alphabet  is  a  very  perfect  instrument  for  representing 


INDIA  ai 

the  sounds  of  the  language.  A  vast  religious,  poetical, 
philosophical,  and  scientific  literature  is  written  in 
Sanskrit. 

The  Hindoos,  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  invasion,  had 
reached  a  high  point  of  development.  They  were  good 
astronomers  and  mathematicians ;  had  great  skill  in  logic 
and  philosophy;  manufactured  silk  and  cotton  in  beauti- 
ful and  costly  forms,  and  worked  rich  ornaments  in  gold 
and  silver.  The  chief  artistic  works  of  India  have  been 
architectural.  Many  splendid  buildings  are  scattered  over 
the  country,  displaying  a  variety  of  styles  in  which  the 
pyramidal  form  is  very  prevalent,  a  profusion  of  sculptured 
ornamentation  being  also  a  marked  feature.  Remarkable 
works  of  a  somewhat  different  kind  are  the  rock  temples 
of  Ellora  in  the  Deccan,  near  Aurungabad,  and  of  Ele- 
phanta,  a  small  island  near  Bombay.  These  stupenduous 
and  magnificent  works  have  massive  pillars  and  display 
very  rich  and  elaborate  carving. 

The  Phoenicians  were  probably  the  first  of  the  nations 
dwelling  round  the  Mediterranean  to  enter  into  commer- 
cial relations  with  India,  the  trade  being  carried  on  both 
by  sea  and  land.  In  later  times  some  of  the  products  of 
India  were  also  known  to  the  Greeks,  while  among  the 
Romans  they  were  not  uncommon,  and  fetched  very  high 
prices. 

As  illustrating  the  character  of  the  Hindoo  intellect  it 
is  remarkable  that  their  literature  possesses  no  historical 
works.  Their  minds  seem  to  have  been  unable  to  regard 
events  in  their  true  light,  and  they  have  had  no  love  of 
veracity  to  induce  them  to  record  facts  as  they  occurred. 
The  Hindoos  exhibit  a  state  of  mind  in  which  a  sensitive 
and  imaginative  temperament  turns  all  outside  them  into  a 
feverish  dream,  and  so,  with  all  their  intelligence  and  taste, 
they  have  had  slight  influence  upon  the  progress  of  other 
nations. 


GREAT  ORIENTAL  PEOPLES 

The  old  Eastern  monarchies,  with  the  sole  exception  of 
Hamitic  Egypt,  all  arose  in  Asia.  The  truly  historical 
nations  of  olden  Asia  are  the  Assyrians,  Semitic;  Babylon- 
ians, Semitic;  Hebrews,  Semitic;  Phoenicians,  Semitic, 
and  Persians,  Aryan.  All  these  had  their  career  in  South- 
western Asia.  This  great  area  of  early  history  may  be 
divided  into  three  regions :  That  west  of  the  Euphrates; 
the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris;  the  region 
from  the  Zagros  Mountains,  east  of  the  Tigris,  to  the 
Indus. 

West  of  the  Euphrates  were  the  peninsula  of  Asia 
Minor,  containing  the  important  Lydian  nation  and  Greek 
colonies  connected  with  the  later  Oriental  history;  Syria, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  divided 
into  three  distinct  parts — Syria  proper;  Phoenicia,  or  the 
strip  of  coast  between  Mount  Lebanon  and  the  sea;  and 
Palestine,  south  of  Phoenicia;  the  peninsula  of  Arabia, 
extending  southeastward,  and  having  little  to  do  with 
ancient  history. 

In  the  basin  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  were 
several  distinct  territories :  Armenia,  or  the  mountainous 
region  between  Asia  Minor  and  the  Caspian  Sea;  Assyria 
proper,  lying  between  the  Tigris  and  the  Zagros  Moun- 
tains; Babylonia,  the  great  alluvial  plain  between  the  lower 
courses  of  the  Tigris  and  of  the  Euphrates,  and  extending 
westward  to  the  Syrian  Desert;  Chaldsea  (in  the  nar- 
rower sense,  as  a  province  of  the  Babylonian  Empire), 
west  of  the  Euphrates,  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf; 
Mesopotamia,  or  the  district  between  the  middle  courses  of 

33 


GREAT  ORIENTAL  PEOPLES       23 

the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates ;  Susiana,  the  country  east 
of  the  Tigris  and  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf. 

In  these  territories,  the  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates,  arose  the  three  great  monarchies  of  Chaldaea, 
Assyria,  and  Babylonia,  afterward  absorbed  in  the  Sixth 
Century  B.  C,  by  the  mighty  Empire  of  Persia,  extending 
almost  from  the  Indus  to  the  Mediterranean,  ^gean, 
Euxine,  and  Caspian  Seas,  when  it  had  reached  the  summit 
of  its  power. 

East  of  the  Zagros  Mountains  lay  Media  and  Persia 
proper — Media,  northeastward,  towards  the  Caspian  Sea, 
and  Persia,  on  the  table-land  southward,  stretching  to  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

Before  the  rise  of  an  extensive  commerce  by  sea  or 
land,  it  is  possible  for  great  communities  to  gather  and 
continue  to  exist  only  in  those  regions  where  a  rich  soil 
provides  plenteous  food.  No  soils  exceed  in  fertility  the 
alluvial  deposits  of  great  rivers,  and  among  such  soils  the 
valleys  of  the  Nile  and  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  have 
ever  been  famous  for  their  wonderful  productive  power. 
Nature  herself  provides  man  with  that  delicious  and  most 
nutritious  food  the  date,  and  as  for  rice  and  other  grain 
crops,  the  earth  has  fatness  such  that  "if  she  be  but  tickled 
with  a  hoe,  she  laughs  with  a  harvest."  In  pastoral  lands 
the  people  wander,  and  must  wander,  with  their  flocks  and 
herds,  to  find  fresh  grass;  they  cannot  settle  down  into  a 
polity  or  state;  the  agriculturists,  who  stayed  to  reap  where 
they  had  sown  the  seed,  became  progenitors  of  mighty 
nations,  founders  of  great  empires  famous  through  all 
regions  and  all  ages  of  the  civilized  world. 

Here  then,  in  such  a  territory,  on  such  a  soil — here,  in 
Egypt,  and  in  Southwestern  Asia,  the  true  history  of  the 
civilized  world  begins,  with  those  nations  that  had  historic 
records  of  their  own,  that  rose  to  a  highly-civilized  con- 


34       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

dition;  and,  more  than  all,  that  brought  their  culture,  with 
more  or  less  of  permanent  effect,  to  bear  on  nations  whom 
they  conquered,  or  who  subjugated  them.  As  it  comes 
forth  from  the  gloom  of  a  past  before  all  records,  we  turn 
our  gaze  to  greet  the  rising  sun  of  history,  disclosing  to 
our  view  two  grand  developments  of  human  culture — 
Egypt  and  Chaldaea. 

EGYPT 

The  people  of  Egypt  are  the  earliest  nation  of  whose 
government  and  political  institutions  we  possess  any 
certain  record,  with  the  exception  of  the  Hittites, 
whose  history  has  been  but  recently  discovered. 
Long  before  the  Hebrews  came  into  possession  of 
their  promised  land  Canaan,  Egypt  had  Kings,  and 
priests,  and  cities,  and  armies;  laws  and  ritual  and 
learning;  arts  and  sciences  and  books.  Egypt  is  at  this 
day,  beyond  all  other  lands,  the  land  of  ruins,  surpassing 
all  other  countries  in  gigantic  and  stately  monumental  re- 
mains, the  result  of  boundless  human  labor.  In  these  great 
memorials  of  Egypt  we  have  expressed  for  us  the  char- 
acter of  the  people,  a  half-fettered  spirit,  whose  favorite 
symbol  was  the  Sphinx — a  half-brute,  half-human  form. 
This  human  head  looking  out  from  the  brute  typifies  the 
intellectual  and  moral  part  of  man — the  human  spirit — • 
beginning  to  emerge  from  the  natural,  striving  to  get  loose 
and  to  look  freely  around,  but  still  restrained  by  the  de- 
based original  state  of  existence.  The  edifices  of  the 
strange  people  who  dwelt  of  old  in  this  land  of  wonders 
are,  as  it  were,  half  under  and  half  above  the  ground,  so 
that  the  kingdom  of  life  seems  ever  in  contact  with  the 
silent  realm  of  death. 

Egypt  is  a  land  that  has  been  created  out  of  the  desert 
by  the  alluvial  deposits  of  her  mighty  river,  the  Nile. 


EGYPT  25 

Flowing  down  from  the  mountains  of  Abyssinia  in  its 
eastern  branch,  the  Blue  Nile,  it  unites  at  Khartoom,  in 
Nubia,  with  the  western  and  longer  branch,  or  White  Nile, 
which  is  now  known  to  issue  from  the  great  equatorial 
lake,  Victoria  Nyanza.  The  river  then  flows,  northward 
mainly,  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  provides  a  rich  soil  of 
muddy  deposit  in  the  yearly  overflow  caused  by  the  great 
rainfalls  of  the  Abyssinian  mountains.  Egypt  is  thus 
composed  of  a  highly  fertile  strip  of  territory  inclosed  by 
hills  and  sandy  wastes  on  each  side.  The  Delta  of  the 
Nile  was  ever  noted  for  its  rich  soil  and  teeming  popula- 
tion; the  water  of  the  river  was  always  famous  for  its 
wholesomeness  and  pleasant  taste. 

The  chief  mineral  products  of  Egypt  were  the  beauti- 
ful granite  of  Philae,  Elephantine  and  Syene,  whose  quar- 
ries furnished  the  huge  masses  used  for  obelisks  and 
statues ;  the  whitish  or  grayish  sandstone  of  the  hills  north 
of  Syene,  which  supplied  the  masonry  for  the  temples ;  and 
the  limestone  of  the  hills  northward  again  to  the  Delta, 
which  last  chain  furnished  the  material  for  the  Pyramids. 
The  climate  of  Egypt  is  remarkably  dry,  and  to  this  is  due 
the  wonderful  state  of  preservation  seen  in  many  of  the 
monumental  remains,  which  display  a  sharpness  of  outline 
in  the  stone  and  a  freshness  of  color  in  the  painting  that 
are»like  the  work  of  yesterday.  The  vegetable  products  of 
Egypt,  due  in  their  great  abundance  to  a  hot  sun  acting  on 
the  thick  fertile  layer  of  fresh  soil  yearly  bestowed  by  the 
river,  were  varied  beyond  all  example  in  the  ancient 
world.  The  olive  and  pomegranate,  the  orange  and  the 
vine,  the  citron,  the  date-palm  and  the  fig,  all  yielded  their 
delicious  produce  for  the  use  of  man.  The  vegetable  gar- 
dens teemed  with  cabbages  and  cucumbers,  onions,  leeks, 
garlic,  radishes,  and  melons.  Rice  and  a  species  of  millet 
called  doora  grew  in  great  crops.  The  fir,  the  cypress,  and 


26       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  cedar  furnished  valuable  timber.  The  papyrus  of  the 
marshes  by  the  river  gave  the  material  for  writing  which 
we  call,  in  a  different  substance  , "paper."  The  same  plant 
furnished  sailcloth,  cordage,  and  baskets.  Cotton  and  flax 
gave  raw  material  for  manufacturing  skill.  Medical 
science  went  to  Egypt  for  its  drugs,  and  in  her  later  days 
Rome  was  largely  fed  by  Egypt's  corn. 

To  the  abundant  food  was  due  the  plenteous  popula- 
tion, and  to  that  again  the  mighty  architectural  works 
raised  by  the  toilsome  efforts  of  cheap  and  well-fed  labor. 
The  country  abounded,  too,  in  animals  and  birds.  Sheep, 
goats,  and  oxen  swarmed;  geese  and  ducks,  and  quails 
and  widgeons  flew  in  countless  numbers.  Egypt  was 
famous  for  the  horse  as  used  in  war  in  early  times ;  the 
scarabceus,  or  sacred  beetle,  is  known  to  all  from  its 
sculptured  semblance  on  the  monuments;  and  the  white 
ibis,  among  birds,  migrating  into  Egypt  along  with  the  ris- 
ing of  the  Nile,  became  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom 
the  rising  river  gave  their  bountiful  subsistence.  Rain 
scarcely  ever  falls  in  Lower  Egypt,  or  in  the  part  nearer 
to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  inundation  of  the  Nile 
begins  early  in  August,  turning  the  valley  of  the  river  into 
a  shallow  inland  sea,  and  subsides  by  the  end  of  October. 

Until  the  present  Century,  what  was  known  about 
ancient  Egypt  was  mainly  got  from  the  narrative  of 
Herodotus,  the  great  Greek,  the  father  of  history,  who 
traveled  in  Egypt  about  the  middle  of  the  Fifth  Century 
B.  C,  and  made  careful  inquiries  of  the  people  and  the 
priests;  from  Manetho,  an  Egyptian  priest  about  300  B. 
C.,  who  wrote  in  Greek  a  lost  work  on  the  history  of 
Egypt,  of  which  the  lists  of  dynasties  of  kings  have  been 
preserved  by  other  writers;  and  from  Diodorus  Siculus, 
who  wrote  (in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus)  a 
universal  history,  of  which  the  portion  about  Egypt 


EGYPT  27 

remains  entire.  During  the  present  Century  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  the  "land  of  Pyramids  and  priests"  has 
been  greatly  increased  by  the  deciphering  of  the  inscrip- 
tions on  the  monuments,  and  by  extended  observation  of 
the  countless  sculptures  in  which  the  olden  Egyptians  have 
recorded  their  ways  of  life,  their  arts  and  arms  and  sciences 
and  ritual  and  faith.  In  carving  or  in  painting,  or  in  both 
combined,  the  obelisks,  the  temple  walls  and  temple  col- 
umns, the  inner  walls  of  tombs,  the  coffins  of  the  dead, 
utensils,  implements,  artistic  objects,  all  are  covered  with 
the  strange  characters  known  as  hieroglyphics.  This 
word,  of  Greek  extraction,  means  "sacred  carvings,"  and 
the  name  was  given  to  the  sculptures  in  the  supposition  that 
all  such  characters  were  of  religious  import,  and  known 
only  to  the  priests  of  ancient  Egypt.  The  meaning  of  the 
characters  had  been  utterly  lost  for  many  hundreds  of 
years,  and  the  word  "hieroglyphics"  had  long  become 
proverbial  for  mysteries  and  undecipherable  puzzles,  when 
a  keen-eyed  Frenchman  found  and  put  into  the  hands  of 
scholars  the  clue  that  was  to  guide  them  within  the 
labyrinth  for  ages  inaccessible  and  unexplored.  An 
artillery  officer  of  Napoleon's  army  in  Egypt,  named 
Bouchart,  discovered  near  Rosetta,  in  1799,  an  oblong 
slab  of  stone  engraved  with  three  inscriptions,  one  under 
the  other.  The  upper  one  (half  of  which  was  broken  off) 
was  in  hieroglyphics,  the  lower  one  was  in  Greek,  and  the 
middle  one  was  stated  in  the  Greek  to  be  in  enchorial  char- 
acters (i.  e.,  characters  of  the  country,  Gr.  chora,  country), 
otherwise  called  demotic  or  popular  (from  the  Greek, 
demos,  the  people).  The  victories  of  the  British  army 
in  Egypt  put  the  English  government  in  possession  of 
this  celebrated  and  interesting  relic,  which  George  III  pre- 
sented to  the  British  Museum,  where  it  stands  now  in  the 
gallery  of  Egyptian  sculpture. 


28       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

The  Greek  inscription  at  once  told  scholars  that  all 
three  inscriptions  expressed  a  decree  of  the  Egyptian 
priests,  sitting  in  synod  at  Memphis,  in  honor  of  King 
Ptolemy  V  (Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  who  reigned  B.  C. 
205-181 ),  to  commemorate  benefits  conferred  by  him  upon 
them.  To  the  efforts  of  two  men  chiefly  the  world  was 
indebted  for  the  deciphering  of  the  two  forms  of  Egyptian 
writing  found  on  the  Rosetta  stone.  These  were  Dr. 
Thomas  Young,  an  eminent  linguist  and  natural  philoso- 
pher, who  was  foreign  secretary  to  the  Royal  Society, 
dying  in  1829;  and  the  great  French  orientalist,  Jean 
Franqois  Champollion,  superintendent  of  Egyptian  an- 
tiquities in  the  Louvre  Museum,  and  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions.  M.  Champollion  died  in 
1832.  By  careful  study  and  comparison,  firstly  of  the 
Greek  with  the  enchorial  inscription,  and  then  of  both  with 
the  hieroglyphic  characters,  combined  with  the  study  of 
similar  inscriptions  on  other  monuments,  a  key  to  the 
mystery  was  at  last  obtained,  and  a  flood  of  light  thrown 
on  the  olden  history  and  civilization  of  Egypt.  Their 
work  has  been  continued  by  the  Egyptian  Exploration 
fund  established  in  1881,  under  whose  direction  Petrie, 
Naville  and  others  have  discovered  ancient  Egyptian  cities 
buried  under  the  earth  but  which,  excavated,  confirmed  the 
tales  told  by  the  hieroglyphics  and  have  added  new  and 
interesting  details  to  the  world's  knowledge  of  the  won- 
derful civilization  of  the  extinct  race.  Hieroglyphics 
are  representations  of  objects  or  parts  of  objects, 
including  heavenly  bodies,  human  beings  in  various  atti- 
tudes, parts  of  the  human  body,  quadrupeds  and  parts  of 
quadrupeds,  birds  and  parts  of  birds,  fishes,  reptiles  and 
parts  of  reptiles,  insects,  plants  and  parts  of  plants,  build- 
ings, furniture,  dresses  and  parts  of  dresses,  weapons, 
tools  and  instruments,  vases  and  cups,  geometric  forms, 


EGYPT  29 

and  fantastic  forms,  amounting  in  all  to  about  a  thousand 
different  symbols.  Of  these  more  than  six  hundred  are 
ideographic  (idea-writing),  i.  e.,  the  engraved  or  painted 
figure,  either  directly  or  metaphorically,  conveys  an  idea 
which  we  express  by  a  word  composed  of  alphabetic  signs. 
Thus,  directly,  the  figure  of  a  man  means  "man ;"  meta- 
phorically, the  figure  of  a  man  means  "power."  About 
one  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  hieroglyphs  are  phonetic 
(sound-conveying),  i.  e.,  the  engraved  or  painted  figures 
represent  words  (which  are  nothing  but  sound  with  a 
meaning  attached  thereto),  of  which  the  first  letter  is  to 
be  taken  as  an  alphabetic  sign,  and  thus  phonetic  hiero- 
glyphics answer  the  same  end  as  our  letters  of  the  alphabet. 
An  example  of  each  will  clearly  show  what  is  meant.  In 
ideographic  writing,  a  bird,  a  mason,  a  nest,  mean  "birds 
build  nests ;"  in  phonetic  hieroglyphs  the  figures  of  a  bull, 
imp,  rope,  door,  and  ship  would  give  the  word  "birds," 
and  the  words  "build"  and  "nests"  would  be  expressed  in 
the  same  roundabout  and  clumsy  fashion.  The  difficulty 
of  deciphering  the  inscriptions  on  monuments  was 
increased  by  the  fact  that  both  ideographic  and  phonetic 
hieroglyphs,  along  with  certain  mixed  signs,  or  phonetic 
followed  by  ideographic,  occur  in  the  same  inscriptions. 

The  first  inhabitants  of  Egypt  came  from  the  north 
by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  not  from  the  South,  descend- 
ing the  Nile,  as  was  supposed  until  recently.  They 
belonged  to  the  race  known  in  Genesis  as  the  Sons  of  Ham, 
whom  the  Arabs  called  the  "red."  Temples  have  been  dis- 
covered built  1600  B.  C,  upon  the  ruins  of  buildings  still 
more  ancient.  Egyptian  chronology  is  not  yet  fixed  with 
certainty,  but  the  dates  given  by  Mariette  Bey,  founder  of 
the  Museum  of  Boulak  at  Cairo,  may  be  accepted.  Under 
the  name  of  Cushites,  the  Hamitic  race  constituted  the 
basis  of  the  population  along  the  shores  of  the  Indian 


jo       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Ocean,  Persian  Gulf  and  Red  Sea.  These  Cushites  formed 
little  states,  which  existed  for  many  centuries,  before  the 
powerful  chief,  Menes,  made  himself  master  of  all  the  val- 
ley from  the  sea  to  the  cataracts  of  Syene,  and  founded, 
at  least  5000  B.  C,  the  first  royal  race  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge.  Tradition  is  that  at  first  gods  reigned, 
and  then  demi-gods,  represented  by  priests,  but  these  were 
forced  to  yield  to  a  warrior  chief.  Little  has  yet  been  dis- 
covered of  these  three  first  dynasties,  the  rule  of  which  for 
eight  centuries  extended  as  far  as  to  the  peninsula  of 
Sinai.  But  it  is  known  that  under  the  fourth  dynasty, 
which  began  about  4020  B.  C.,  there  existed  a  civilization 
unparalleled  at  the  period.  The  arts  gained  a  development 
which  is  scarcely  excelled  by  the  most  brilliant  epoch.  The 
building  of  the  Great  Pyramid  at  Gizeh,  near  Cairo,  is 
ascribed  by  Herodotus  to  King  Cheops,  otherwise  called 
Suphis,  according  to  the  hieroglyphic  royal  name  found 
inside  the  structure.  This  early  King  is  believed  to 
have  reigned  about  the  middle  of  the  Twenty-fifth 
Century  B.  C.  Cheops  was  the  second  and  most 
celebrated  monarch  in  the  fourth  of  the  dynasties 
of  Manetho,  which  ruled  at  Memphis  as  the  capital. 
The  third  King  in  this  list,  Cephren,  also  founded 
a  pyramid,  as  did  the  fourth,  Mencheres,  a  sovereign 
beloved  and  praised  in  poetry  for  his  goodness.  His 
mummified  remains  are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  In 
the  sixth  dynasty  was  a  female  sovereign  noted  for  her 
beauty,  named  Nitocris,  who  also  built  a  pyramid  and 
reigned  at  Memphis.  The  monarchy  appears  to  have  been 
for  some  time  divided,  the  chief  power  being  held  by  the 
Kings  ruling  at  Thebes,  in  Upper  Egypt.  To  about  2050 
B.  C.  is  ascribed  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  the  country 
by  the  Hyksos  or  Shepherd-Kings,  said  to  be  the  Hittites. 
They  conquered  Lower  Egypt  first,  and  then  subdued  the 


A.  VV'.  Estes, 


EGYPT  31 

kingdom  of  Thebes,  ruling  the  whole  land,  as  is  supposed, 
from  about  B.  C.  1900  to  1500.  It  is  probably  to  this 
period  that  the  story  of  Joseph  belongs.  Amenophis  seems 
to  have  expelled  the  Shepherd-Kings,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Ethiopians  from  the  South,  and  then  came  the  great  period 
of  Egyptian  history,  from  about  1500  to  1200  B.  C.  Dur- 
ing this  time  Egypt  was  a  great  empire,  having  Thebes 
for  its  capital. 

The  greatest  monarch  of  this  or  perhaps  any  age  of 
Egypt's  history  was  Rameses  the  Great,  called  by  the  Greek 
writers,  Sesostris.  To  him  have  been  attributed  many  of 
the  monuments  and  pictures  which  represent  triumphal 
procession  and  the  captives  taken  in  war.  Rameses  tht 
Great  reigned  for  nearly  seventy  years  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century  B.C.  Among  his  many  monuments  two  are  chiefly 
remarkable,  the  Memnonium  or  palace-temple  at  Thebes, 
and  the  great  rock-cut  temple  of  Aboosimbel  in  Nubia. 
These  great  architectural  works  possess  an  interest  more 
historical  than  that  of  the  pyramids.  Their  sculptures  and 
inscriptions  tell  us  the  chief  events  of  the  reign  of  Rameses, 
and  even  suggest  some  idea  of  his  personality.  His  por- 
traits show  a  face  of  partly  Semitic  type,  and  indicate  a 
strong  but  gentle  character  of  unusual  cultivation  for  the 
times.  This  great  conqueror  is  said  to  have  subdued 
Ethiopia,  to  have  carried  his  arms  beyond  the  Euphrates 
eastward,  and  among  the  Thracians  in  southeast  Europe. 
The  monumental  sculptures  and  paintings  tell  us  of  war- 
galleys  of  Egypt  in  the  Indian  seas,  and  of  Ethiopian  trib- 
ute paid  in  ebony  and  ivory  and  gold,  in  apes  and  birds  of 
prey,  and  even  in  giraffes  from  inner  Africa.  Other  sculp- 
tures display  the  Egyptians  fighting  with  success  against 
Asiatic  foes.  To  this  monarch  was  due  a  vast  system  of 
irrigation  by  canals,  dug  through  the  whole  of  Egypt 
for  conveying  the  waters  of  the  Nile  to  every  part.  After 


32        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  great  Rameses  we  find  no  sovereign  of  note  until  we 
come  to  Shishak,  who,  in  the  year  B.  C.  970,  took  and 
plundered  Jerusalem.  The  empire  continued  to  decline, 
and  latterly  it  was  attacked  by  Sennacherib,  King  of 
Assyria,  who,  however,  accomplished  little.  By  Esarhad- 
don  and  Assurbanipal,  however,  Egypt  was  entirely 
reduced,  and  became  for  a  time  tributary  to  the  Assyrian 
monarchs.  This  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  a 
King  named  Psammetichus,  who  reigned  from  B.  C.  671 
to  617. 

Then  Egypt  was  in  connection,  for  the  first  time  in 
her  history,  with  foreign  countries,  otherwise  than  as  con- 
quering or  conquered.  Psammetichus  had  in  his  pay  a 
body  of  Greek  mercenaries,  and  sought  to  introduce  the 
Greek  language  among  his  subjects.  In  jealousy  at  this, 
the  great  military  caste  of  Egypt  emigrated  into  Ethiopia, 
and  left  the  King  dependent  on  his  foreign  troops,  with 
whom  he  warred  in  Syria  and  Phoenicia.  Egyptian  policy 
at  this  time,  and  in  succeeding  reigns,  seems  to  have  aimed 
at  the  development  of  commerce,  and  the  securing  for 
Egypt  of  the  routes  and  commercial  centers  for  the  trade, 
by  the  Red  Sea,  between  Europe  and  Asia.  Necho,  son  of 
Psammetichus,  succeeded  his  father,  and  reigned  from 
B.  C.  617  to  60 1.  He  was  an  energetic,  enterprising 
prince,  who  built  fleets  on  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  strove  to  join  the  Nile,  by  a  canal,  with  the 
Red  Sea.  Africa  was  circumnavigated  by  Phoenicians  in 
his  service,  who  sailed  from  the  Arabian  Gulf,  and  passed 
round  by  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  the  mouths  of  the  Nile. 
He  was  the  King  who  fought  with  and  defeated  Josiah, 
King  of  Judah,  sustaining  afterwards  defeat  from  Neb- 
uchadnezzar, King  of  Babylon. 

In  B.  C.  594  came  Apries,  the  Pharaoh-Hophra  of 
Scripture,  who  conquered  Sidon,  and  was  an  ally  of  Zerte- 


EGYPT  33 

kiah,  King  of  Judah,  against  Nebuchadnezzar.  After 
being  repulsed  with  severe  loss  in  an  attack  on  the  Greek 
colony  of  Cyrene,  west  of  Egypt,  Apries  was  dethroned 
by  Amasis,  who  reigned  from  B.  C.  570  to  526.  His  long 
and  prosperous  rule  was  marked  by  a  closer  intercourse 
than  heretofore  with  the  Greeks. 

Psammenitus,  son  of  Amasis,  inherited  a  quarrel  of 
his  father  with  Cambyses,  King  of  Persia,  who  invaded 
and  conquered  Egypt  in  B.  C.  525.  For  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  afterward  the  history  of  Egypt  is  marked, 
disastrously,  by  constant  struggles  between  the  people  and 
their  Persian  conquerors,  and,  in  a  more  favorable  and 
interesting  way,  by  the  growing  intercourse  between  the 
land  of  the  Nile  and  the  Greeks.  Greek  historians  and 
philosophers — Herodotus  and  Anaxagoras  and  Plato — 
visited  the  country  and  took  back  stores  of  information  on 
its  wonders,  its  culture,  and  its  faith. 

In  B.  C.  332  Egypt  was  conquered  by  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  with  this  event,  and  the  foundation  of  the  new 
capital,  the  great  city  of  Alexandria,  destined  to  a  lasting 
literary  and  commercial  renown,  the  history  of  ancient 
Egypt  may  end. 

At  an  early  period  the  form  of  government  in  Egypt 
became  a  hereditary  monarchy,  but  one  of  a  peculiar  kind. 
The  power  of  the  King  was  restricted  by  rigid  law  and 
antique  custom,  and  by  the  extraordinary  influence  of  the 
priestly  class.  In  his  personal  life  he  was  bound  by  minute 
regulations  as  to  diet,  dress,  hours  of  business,  of  repose, 
and  of  religious  worship,  and  submitted  to  a  daily  lecture 
from  the  sacred  books  as  to  the  duties  of  his  high  office. 
Under  the  Kings,  governors  of  the  thirty-six  nomes  or  dis- 
tricts held  sway,  and  these  high  officials  were  invested  with 
large  powers  over  the  land  and  the  levying  of  taxes.  The 
soil  was  held  by  the  priests,  the  warriors,  and  the  King. 


34        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

The  Egyptian  monarchs  appear,  as  a  rule,  to  have 
used  their  authority  well  and  wisely;  there  was  sel- 
dom insurrection  or  rebellion,  and  many  received 
divine  honors  after  death  for  their  beneficence  and 
regal  virtues.  The  common  title,  "Pharaoh,"  is  de- 
rived from  the  Egyptian  word  "Phra,"  the  sun.  The 
body  of  the  people  was  divided  into  castes,  concern- 
ing the  number  and  nature  of  which  the  accounts 
differ.  It  seems,  however,  that  they  were  not  rigidly  sep- 
arated, as  in  India,  and  that  the  members  of  the  different 
orders  might  intermarry,  and  the  children  pass  from  one 
caste  to  another  by  change  of  their  hereditary  occupation. 
The  castes  are,  perhaps,  most  correctly  given  thus:  ist, 
priests;  2nd,  soldiers;  3rd,  husbandmen;  4th,  artificers  and 
tradesmen;  5th,  a  miscellaneous  class  of  herdsmen,  fisher- 
men, and  servants.  The  priests  and  warriors  ranked  far 
above  the  rest  in  dignity  and  privilege.  The  hierarchy 
was  the  highest  order  in  power,  influence,  and  wealth.  To 
the  priestly  caste,  however,  many  persons  belonged  who 
were  not  engaged  in  religious  offices.  They  were  a  land- 
owning class,  and  they  were,  emphatically  and  solely,  the 
learned  class,  like  the  clergy  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  their 
possession  were  all  the  literature  and  science  of  the  coun- 
try, and  all  employments  dependent,  for  their  practice,  on 
that  knowledge.  The  priesthood  thus  included  the  poets, 
the  historians,  the  expounders  and  administrators  of  law, 
the  physicians,  and  the  magicians  who  did  wonders  before 
Moses.  They  paid  no  taxes,  had  large  landed  possessions, 
exercised  immense  influence  over  the  minds  of  the  people, 
and  put  no  slight  check  even  on  the  King.  History  dis- 
closes a  powerful  and  excellent  military  organization  in 
Egypt.  An  army  of  over  400,000  men  was  mainly  com- 
posed of  a  militia  supported  by  a  fixed  portion  of  land  (six 
acres  per  man),  free  from  all  taxation.  The  chariots  and 


EGYPt  35 

horses  of  Egypt  were  famous ;  the  foot-soldiers  were  vari- 
ously armed  with  helmet,  spear,  coat  of  mail,  shield,  battle- 
axe,  club,  javelin,  and  dagger,  for  close  fighting  in  dense 
array;  and  with  bows,  arrows  and  slings  for  skirmishing 
and  conflict  in  open  order.  The  soldier  was  allowed  to 
cultivate  his  own  land  when  he  was  not  under  arms,  but 
could  follow  no  other  occupation.  The  castes  below  the 
warriors  and  priests  had  no  political  rights,  and  could  not 
hold  land.  The  husbandmen  who  tilled  the  soil  paid  rent 
in  produce  to  the  King  or  to  the  priests  who  owned  it.  The 
artisan-class  included  masons,  weavers,  sculptors,  painters, 
embalmers  of  the  dead,  and  workers  in  leather,  wood,  and 
metals,  whose  occupations  are  recorded  upon  the  monu- 
ments. The  herdsmen  were  the  lowest  class,  and  of  these 
the  swineherds  were  treated  as  mere  outcasts,  not  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  temples,  or  to  marry  except  among 
themselves. 

The  land  of  Egypt,  teeming  with  population,  abounded 
in  cities  and  towns.  Of  these  the  greatest  were  Thebes,  in 
Upper  Egypt,  and  Memphis,  in  Middle  Egypt,  whose  site 
was  near  the  modern  Cairo.  Thebes  is  the  No  or  No  Am- 
mon  of  Scripture,  and  was  at  the  height  of  its  splendor 
as  capital  of  Egypt  about  B.  C.  2000.  Its  vastness  is 
proved  by  the  existing  remains  known  (from  the  names 
of  modern  villages)  as  the  ruins  of  Karnak,  Luxor,  etc. 
They  consist  of  obelisks,  sphinxes,  colossal  statues,  tem- 
ples, and  tombs  cut  in  the  rock.  These  mighty  monu- 
ments, with  their  countless  sculptured  details  and  inscrip- 
tions, are  themselves  the  historians  of  the  Egyptian  Em- 
pire of  3,000  years  ago.  Memphis,  after  the  fall  of 
Thebes,  became  the  capital  of  Egypt,  and  kept  its  impor- 
tance till  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  Cambyses.  It  was 
superseded  as  capital  by  Alexandria,  and  finally  destroyed 
by  the  Arabs  in  the  Seventh  Century  A.  D.  The  desert 


36        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

sands  have  overwhelmed  its  famous  avenue  of  sphinxes, 
and  the  great  pyramids  of  Gizeh,  and  the  colossal  Sphinx, 
are  the  chief  memorials  of  the  past  in  its  vicinity. 

The  chief  feature  of  Egyptian  architecture  is  its  colos- 
sal, massive  grandeur,  derived  from  the  use  of  enormous 
blocks  of  masonry,  and  from  the  vast  extent  of  the  build- 
ings in  which  these  blocks  were  employed.  Towering 
height  and  huge  circumference  in  the  pillars ;  length  and 
loftiness  in  the  colonnades,  and  avenues,  and  halls,  produce 
in  the  beholder  an  unequaled  impression  of  sublimity  and 
awe.  The  approaches  to  the  palaces  and  temples  were 
paved  roads  lined  with  obelisks  and  sphinxes,  and  the  tem- 
ples and  the  palaces  themselves  surpassed  in  size  and  in 
elaborate  ornament  of  sculpture  and  of  painting  all  other 
works  of  man.  There  are  about  forty  pyramids  now  left 
standing,  all  in  Middle  Egypt,  and  of  these  the  most 
remarkable  are  the  group  of  nine  at  Gizeh,  near  the  site 
of  ancient  Memphis.  The  Great  Pyramid,  that  of  King 
Cheops,  covers  an  area  of  more  than  twelve  acres,  and 
exceeds  450  feet  in  height.  An  outer  casing  of  small 
stones  has  been  removed,  and,  instead  of  showing  a  smooth 
and  sloping  surface,  the  sides  have  now  a  series  of  huge 
steps.  A  narrow  passage,  fifty  feet  above  the  base  of  the 
structure  on  its  north  face,  leads  to  the  sepulchral  cham- 
bers, of  which  that  called  the  King's  chamber  is  lined  with 
polished  red  granite.  The  wooden  coffin  with  the  King's 
mummy  was  long  since  removed  from  the  red  granite  sar- 
cophagus which  held  it.  The  second  large  pyramid,  that 
of  King  Cephren,  is  somewhat  smaller.  A  third,  that  of 
Mycerinus,  is  far  smaller  than  the  other  two.  The 
removal  of  the  vast  blocks  of  stone  from  distant  quarries, 
and  their  elevation  to  heights  which  have  puzzled  the  heads 
of  modern  engineers,  were  effected  not  by  the  ingenuity 
of  mechanical  contrivance,  but  by  the  labor  of  human 


EGYPT  37 

hands.  Thousands  of  men,  employed  for  months  in  mov- 
ing single  stones,  regardless  of  'expense,  might  well  effect 
results  startling  to  modern  ideas  of  economy  in  toil. 

Egyptian  sculpture  displays  size,  simplicity,  stiffness, 
and  little  of  what  modern  art  calls  taste  or  beauty.  Statues 
are  made  either  standing  quite  upright,  or  kneeling  on 
both  knees,  or  sitting  with  a  rigid  posture  of  the  legs  and 
arms.  In  the  work  of  the  tombs  and  temples  a  bolder  and 
more  varied  style  is  often  found.  The  work  is  remarkable 
for  clean  execution  and  fineness  of  surface,  showing  an 
excellent  edge  and  temper  in  the  tools  employed.  It  is 
likely  that  improvement  in  the  forms  of  Egyptian  art  was 
hindered  by  religious  scruple,  confining  the  artist  to  the 
limits  of  traditional  example.  In  Egypt,  life  was  the  thing 
sacred.  Hence  all  that  had  life  was  in  a  way  divine;  the 
sacred  ibis,  crocodile,  bull,  cat,  snake.  All  that  produced 
and  all  that  ended  life.  Hence  death,  too,  was  sacred.  The 
Egyptian  lived  in  the  contemplation  of  death.  His  coffin 
was  made  in  his  lifetime;  his  ancestors  were  embalmed; 
the  sacred  animals  were  preserved  in  myriad  heaps, 
through  generations  in  mummy-pits.  The  sovereign's 
tomb  was  built  to  last  for,  not  centuries,  but  thousands 
of  years. 

Hegel  declares  that  in  the  religion  of  Egypt  are  united 
the  worship  of  Nature  and  of  the  spirit  which  underlies 
and  animates  Nature.  The  physical  existence  of  the 
Egyptians  depended  on  the  Nile  and  the  Sun ;  from  those 
forces  only  could  come  the  vegetation  needed  for  the  food 
of  the  people.  This  view  of  nature  gives  the  principle 
of  the  religion,  in  which  the  Nile  and  the  Sun  are  deities 
conceived  under  human  forms.  From  the  observation  of 
the  constant  course  of  nature,  on  which  the  Egyptian 
rested  as  his  sole  hope  for  the  bread  of  life,  arose  the  myth- 
ology of  Egypt.  In  the  winter-solstice  the  power  of  the 


38        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

sun  has  reached  its  minimum,  and  must  be  born  anew. 
And  so,  according  to  the  legend,  the  god  Osiris,  represent- 
ing both  the  Nile  and  the  Sun,  is  born;  but  he  is  killed  by 
Typhon,  the  burning  wind  of  the  desert,  which  parches  up 
the  waters  of  the  Nile.  Isis,  the  goddess  representing  the 
Earth,  or  the  receptive  fertility  of  Nature,  from  whom  the 
aid  of  the  Sun  and  of  the  Nile  has  been  withdrawn,  yearns 
after  the  dead  Osiris,  gathers  his  scattered  bones,  and  with 
all  Egypt  bewails  his  loss.  Osiris  becomes  judge  of  the 
dead,  and  lord  of  the  kingdom  of  spirits.  To  Osiris  and 
to  Isis  were  ascribed  the  introduction'  of  agriculture,  the 
invention  of  the  plough  and  the  hoe,  because  Osiris — the 
Nile  and  the  Sun — not  only  makes  earth  fertile,  but  gives 
the  means  to  turn  its  power  of  reproduction  to  account. 
He  also  gives  men  laws,  and  civil  order,  and  religious  rit- 
ual; he  thus  places  in  men's  hands  the  means  of  labor, 
and  secures  its  result.  Isis  and  Osiris  were  the  only  divini- 
ties that  were  worshipped  throughout  Egypt.  It  was  in 
later  times  that  they  came  to  be  regarded  as  divinities  of 
the  sun  and  the  moon.  Another  god,  Anubis,  worshipped 
in  the  form  of  a  human  being  with  the  head  of  a  dog,  is 
represented  as  an  Egyptian  Hermes,  and  to  him  was 
ascribed  the  invention  of  writing,  grammar,  astronomy, 
mensuration,  music,  and  medicine.  The  highest  form  of 
the  religious  belief  of  this  strange  people  appears,  beyond 
a  doubt,  to  have  included  the  idea  that  the  soul  of  man 
is  immortal. 

Whatever  higher  religious  ideas  may  have  been  held 
by  philosophical  and  learned  priests,  the  worship  of  the 
common  people  was  chiefly  a  zoolatry,  or  adoration  of  ani- 
mals. The  sacred  bull,  called  Apis,  was  worshipped  at 
Memphis  with  the  highest  honors,  and  at  his  death  was 
replaced  by  another,  searched  for  until  they  found  one 
with  certain  peculiar  marks,  and  this  was  the,n  pretended 


EGYPT  39 

to  be  miraculously  born  as  the  successor.  All  Egypt 
rejoiced  on  his  annual  birthday  festival,  and  there  was  a 
public  mourning  when  he  died.  The  dog,  the  hawk,  the 
white  ibis,  and  the  cat  were  also  specially  revered.  The 
sparrow-hawk,  with  human  head  and  outspread  wings, 
denoted  the  soul  flying  through  space,  to  animate  a  new 
body.  Thus  in  the  religion  of  Egypt,  gross  superstition 
in  the  masses  of  the  people  was  mingled  with  the  spiritual 
Conceptions  of  cultivated  minds. 

A  papyrus-book  discovered  in  the  royal  tombs  of 
Thebes  has  revealed  to  the  world  some  curious  matter  con- 
cerning the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  Egyptians,  and  their 
belief,  as  expressed  in  those  rites,  as  to  a  future  life.  In 
this  book,  called  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  we  read  in  pictured 
writing  of  a  second  life,  and  of  a  Hall  of  Judgment,  where 
the  god  Osiris  sits,  provided  with  a  balance,  a  secretary 
and  forty-two  attendant-judges.  In  the  balance  a  soul 
is  weighed  against  a  statue  of  divine  justice,  placed  in  the 
other  scale,  which  is  guarded  by  the  god  Anubis.  The 
assistant- judges  give  separate  decisions,  after  the  person 
on  trial  has  pleaded  his  cause  before  them.  The  soul 
rejected  as  unworthy  of  the  Egyptian  heaven  was  believed 
to  be  driven  off  to  some  dark  realm,  to  assume  the  form  of 
a  beast,  in  accordance  with  a  low  character  and  sensual 
nature.  An  acquitted  soul  joined  the  throng  of  the  blest. 

With  the  religion  of  the  people,  it  is  thought,  was 
connected  the  practice  of  embalming  the  bodies  of  the 
dead.  This  was  performed  by  the  use  of  drugs  and  spices 
stuffed  within  the  head,  and  by  the  baking  of  the  body, 
followed  by  steeping  for  seventy  days  in  a  solution  of  salt- 
peter. It  was  then  closely  wrapped  in  linen  bandages 
soaked  in  resinous  and  aromatic  substances.  The  next 
thing  was  to  place  the  swathed  form  in  the  mummy-case, 
which  was  then  laid  in  a  sarcophagus  of  stone  or  in.  a 


40       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

coffin  made  of  sycamore-wood.  If  the  origin  of  this  prac- 
tice was  not  a  belief  that  at  some  period  after  death  the 
soul  would  rejoin  the  body,  it  may  have  been  occasioned 
by  the  fact  that  the  yearly  inundation  made  burial  impos- 
sible for  weeks  over  so  large  a  portion  of  the  land. 

As  the  Egyptian  columns  were  formed  by  their  arch- 
itects on  the  model  of  the  palm-tree,  whose  feathery  crown 
of  foliage  was  ever  before  their  eyes,  or  of  the  full-blown 
or  budding  papyrus,  so  in  the  mural  decorations  the  figure 
of  the  famous  lotus-plant,  or  lily  of  the  Nile,  is  found  con- 
stantly. The  lotus  was  beheld  by  the  Egyptians  with 
veneration,  and  was  used  in  sculpture  and  in  paintings 
as  no  mere  ornament,  but  as  a  religious  symbol.  It  occurs 
in  all  representations  of  sacrifices  and  other  holy  ceremon- 
ies, in  tombs,  and  in  all  matters  connected  either  with  death 
or  with  another  life.  This  water-lily  of  Egypt  was  the 
emblem  to  the  people  of  the  generative  powers  of  the 
world.  It  was  consecrated  to  Isis  and  Osiris,  and  typefied 
the  creation  of  the  world  from  water.  It  also  symbolized 
the  rise  of  the  Nile,  and  the  return  of  the  sun  in  his  full 
power.  The  lotus  of  Egypt  must  not  be  confounded  with 
that  of  the  fabled  "lotus-eaters,"  which  was  probably  the 
shrub  called  jujube,  growing  still  in  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and 
Morocco. 

Their  monuments  prove  that  the  Egyptians  practiced 
the  arts  of  the  potter,  glass-blower,  carpenter,  boat-build- 
er, and  other  mechanics;  that  they  used  balances,  levers, 
saws,  adzes,  chisels,  the  forceps,  syringes,  and  razors. 
They  were  adepts  at  gold-beating,  engraving,  inlaying, 
casting,  and  wire-drawing.  They  grew  and  prepared  flax, 
which  they  wove  into  fine  linen.  The  sailcloth  of  the  boats 
on  the  Nile  was  often  worked  in  colored  and  embroidered 
patterns.  Bells,  crucibles,  and  surgical  instruments  were 
all  in  u^,  From  the  papyrus  the  Egyptians  made  excel- 


EGYPT  41 

lent  paper,  and  the  present  freshness  of  the  writing  on  it 
proves  their  skill  in  the  preparation  of  colors  and  inks. 
They  could  dye  cloth  in  fast  hues,  and  engrave  precious 
stones  with  great  delicacy.  They  were  skilled  in  veneering 
and  inlaying  with  ivory  and  precious  woods.  There  is  thus 
ample  proof  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  a  highly  in- 
genious, artistic,  tasteful  and  industrious  race.  The  women 
adorned  themselves  with  bracelets,  anklets,  armlets,  finger- 
rings,  ear-rings,  and  necklaces;  they  always  wore  their 
own  hair,  which  it  was  the  fashion  to  have  long  and 
braided ;  the  service  of  the  toilet  brought  into  use  highly- 
polished  bronze  mirrors,  large  wooden  combs,  perfumes, 
and  cosmetics,  which  included  a  preparation  for  staining 
the  eyelids  and  the  eyebrows.  The  women  joined  the  men 
at  dinner,  where  all  guests  sat,  instead  of  reclining  in  the 
usual  Eastern  fashion ;  and  at  the  meal  the  wine  was  cooled 
in  jars  and  handed  round  in  cups  of  bronze,  or  porcelain, 
or  silver.  Before  the  feast  was  over,  an  attendant  carried 
round  a  figure  of  a  mummy,  bidding  the  guests  enjoy  the 
present  hour,  for  mummies  after  death  they  all  should  be. 
The  music  at  dinner  came  from  the  lyre,  tambourine,  and 
harp;  and  dancing,  tumbling,  and  games  with  dice  and 
with  ball  helped  frivolity  under  the  Pharoahs  to  pass  its 
hours  of  idleness  away. 

Such  was  the  land  of  Egypt,  the  wonder  of  the  nations 
of  old,  and  a  marvel  to  us  in  this  age.  Among  all  nations, 
for  the  massive  and  sublime,  for  the  quaintly  picturesque, 
it  stands  unrivalled  in  the  world.  An  Arabian  conqueror 
describes  the  land  as  "first  a  vast  sea  of  dust;  then  a  sea 
of  fresh  water ;  lastly,  a  sea  of  flowers,"  and,  in  the  time 
of  inundation,  as  "a  sea  of  islands."  When  the  waters 
cover  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  the  villages  and  towns  and 
scattered  huts  rise  just  above  the  level  of  the  lake,  and 
Virgil  sings  of  how  in  the  Delta,  at  that  season,  the  farmer 


42        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

"rides  his  fields  in  painted  bark  around."  In  the  time 
when  vegetation  is  luxuriant,  the  contrast  of  the  greenery 
by  the  river,  with  the  yellow  sand  of  the  desert  and  the  red 
granite  of  the  rocks  and  ruins,  is  very  striking.  So  unlike 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  was  Egypt  in  her  nature  and  her 
art,  that  the  mere  names  of  things  found  there,  and  there 
alone,  or  there  in  hugest  or  in  strangest  form,  call  up  the 
image  of  the  whole  strange  land  with  magic  power.  Tem- 
ples, rock-tombs,  gigantic  ruins;  the  ibis,  crocodile,  ich- 
neumon, asp;  the  pyramids,  the  sphinx,  the  obelisks;  the 
mummy,  scarabseus,  hieroglyph,  papyrus — these  were  the 
products  of  the  region  where  the  Pharaohs  reigned,  where 
Moses  grew  from  birth  to  manhood,  where  Joseph  came 
forth  from  a  dungeon  to  rule  in  wisdom  at  the  King's  right 
hand,  and  whence  the  chosen  people  of  God  went  out  into 
the  wilderness  toward  the  promised  land. 

HITTITES,      CHALDEANS,       ASSYRIANS,      AND      BABYLONIANS 

In  the  basin  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  we  find 
a  civilization  more  ancient  than  that  of  Egypt.  To 
explorations  in  Egypt  made  during  recent  years  we  owe 
the  discovery  of  an  even  more  ancient  empire,  that  of  the 
Hittites. 

Modern  research  has  greatly  added  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  history  of  this  region.  In  1843  M.  Botta, 
French  consul  at  Mosul,  on  the  Tigris,  discovered  at 
Khorsabad,  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Mosul,  and  be- 
yond the  river,  an  Assyrian  palace  which  had  been  buried 
for  perhaps  two  thousand  years.  Austin  Layard,  then  a 
traveler  in  the  East,  was  hereupon  incited  to  make  excava- 
tions in  the  lofty  mounds  of  Nimrud,  eighteen  miles 
southeast  of  Mosul,  and  also  beyond  i.  e.,  east  of  the 
Tigris.  The  enterprise  was  rewarded  with  immediate 


HITTITES  43 

and  brilliant  success.  From  the  labors  of  Mr.  Layard 
at  Nimrud  and  at  Koyunjik,  on  the  Tigris,  opposite  to 
Mosul,  came  the  slabs  covered  with  cuneiform  (wedge- 
shaped)  or  arrow-headed  inscriptions,  the  huge  winged 
bulls  and  lions,  with  human  heads,  bas-reliefs,  figures,  and 
ornaments,  which  are  now  to  be  seen,  as  one  of  its  most 
valuable  collections,  in  the  British  Museum.  These  ob- 
jects themselves  gave  instant  and  abundant  information 
as  to  the  state  of  art  and  the  progress  of  civilization  at  the 
time  when  they  were  made,  but  the  cuneiform  inscriptions 
were  a  different  matter.  For  these  the  penetrative  power 
of  superior  intellects  was  needed,  and  the  researches  of 
Rawlinson,  Norris,  Grotefend,  Smith,  Sayce,  and  others, 
have  resulted  in  the  deciphering  of  a  vast  number  of  the 
inscriptions  containing  the  history  of  ancient  Babylonia 
and  Assyria  and  their  Kings. 

The  study  of  cuneiform  characters  has  revealed  that 
the  Hittites,  instead  of  being  merely  a  fierce  and  a 
warlike  tribe,  dwelling  in  the  mountains  around  Hebron, 
to  the  annoyance  and  danger  of  the  Israelites,  were 
a  great  and  powerful  people,  who  ruled  Asia  Minor 
from  the  River  Euphrates  on  the  east  to  the  shores  of  the 
^Egean  Sea  on  the  west,  during  a  period  of  over  3,000 
years.  The  unpleasant  Hittite  neighbors  of  the  Israelites 
were  only  a  detached  band  of  the  great  nation  of  the  same 
name.  Kadish,  near  the  Levant,  and  Carchemish,  on  the 
Euphrates,  were  the  two  capitals  of  Khita,  as  the  country 
of  the  Hittites  was  called.  They  dominated  Babylon  for 
years  and  fought  again  and  again  with  the  Egyptians, 
until  an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive  was  made  B.  C. 
1383  between  them  and  the  great  Pharaoh,  Rameses  II, 
who,  in  token  of  amity,  married  a  daughter  of  Khitasire, 
King  of  Khita.  Full  account  of  this  treaty  and  of  the 
marriage  are  given  on  tablets  discovered  by  recent 


44        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

trian  Egyptologists,  and  by  a  papyrus  in  the  British 
Museum.  The  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  Thebes  and 
the  monuments  found  at  Aleppo  show  the  Hittites  to  have 
been  of  the  Mongolian  or  Tartar  race.  They  wore  boots 
with  long  toes  turning  upwards,  after  the  fashion  revived 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  a  short-skirted  tunic,  and  gloves 
without  fingers.  The  two-headed  eagle  of  Austria  occurs 
frequently  upon  Hittite  monuments  many  ages  before  it 
was  used  by  the  Turcoman  chiefs.  The  relics  left  by  these 
mighty  people  prove  them  to  have  been  fully  equal  in  civ- 
ilization to  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  to  the  Babylonians. 
Indeed,  it  was  their  wealth  and  luxury  which  made  them 
the  objects  of  attack  by  the  Assyrians.  Apparently  their 
history  is  that  of  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome  and  all  other  na- 
tions that  have  grown  great  and  luxurious  and  then  been 
scattered  because  of  their  luxury.  The  Assyrians  invaded 
Khita  for  the  sake  of  spoil,  returning  with  treasures  of 
gold,  copper  and  iron,  of  wood  and  ivory,  slaves,  and  rich 
stuffs,  as  duly  chronicled  upon  stones  from  Nineveh. 
They  occupy  an  important  place  in  Assyrian  inscriptions, 
beginning  in  the  reign  of  Sargon  I.  Under  that  of  his 
sons  they  were  finally  subdued  and  their  empire  brought 
to  an  end  by  the  capture  of  Carchemish  and  the  defeat  of 
Pisiri.  Over  300  geographical  names  mentioned  in  these 
inscriptions  show  how  extensive  their  empire  was.  Pro- 
fessor Sayce,  the  distinguished  philologist,  is  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  civilization  of  the  Greeks  was  largely  due  to 
Hittite  influences.  Herodotus,  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and 
Homer  were  all  born  in  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Kiteians  of 
whom  Homer  speaks  in  the  Odyssey  were  supposed  by 
Gladstone  to  be  the  Khetans  or  Hittites. 

The  work  of  the  Hittites  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
carried  on  by  the  Chaldaeans.  Chaldaean  is  a  word  of  sev- 
eral meanings,  being  applied  to  the  early  Babylonian  em- 


CHALDEANS  45 

pire;  to  a  province  of  the  later  Babylonian  empire;  to 
a  learned  class,  a  priestly  caste,  at  the  court  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, King  of  the  later  Babylonian  empire.  In  a  sense 
similar  to  the  last  the  word  was  familiar  to  the  Romans. 
Philip  Smith,  in  his  "Ancient  History,"  says :  "The  Chal- 
daeans  at  the  court  of  Nebuchadnezzar  are  classed  with 
the  astrologers  and  magicians,  had  a  learning  and  lan- 
guage of  their  own,  and  formed  a  sort  of  college.  Those 
who  acquired  their  learning,  and  were  admitted  into  their 
body,  were  called  Chaldaeans,  quite  irrespective  of  their 
race,  and  thus  Daniel  became  the  master  of  the  Chal- 
dasans." 

The  Chaldsean,  or  Old  Babylonian,  Empire  was 
founded  in  the  south  of  Mesopotamia,  the  alluvial  plain 
between  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates.  This  country  was, 
like  Egypt  with  the  Nile,  the  creation  of  these  rivers  by 
their  deposits  of  rich  mud.  The  waters  were  supplied  for 
cultivation  partly  by  the  natural  inundations,  partly  by 
artificial  irrigating  canals.  The  fertility  of  the  district 
was  famous  in  ancient  times,  producing  wheat  as  an  indig- 
enous crop,  and  other  kinds  of  grain,  with  dates,  grapes 
and  other  fruits.  The  rivers  and  the  marshes  supplied 
huge  reeds,  which  were  used  to  make  houses  and  boats. 
The  chief  building  material  was  bricks  made  from  the  clay 
found  on  the  spot,  and  springs  of  bitumen  furnished  a 
strong  cement.  In  this  region,  as  told  in  Scripture,  Nim- 
rod,  the  "mighty  hunter,"  of  the  race  of  Ham,  founded  a 
kingdom  which  included  four  cities  named  Babel  (Bab- 
ylon), Erech,  Calneh,  and  Accad.  The  land  of  Shinar  was 
the  name  used  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  also  in  the 
Babylonian  and  Assyrian  inscriptions,  for  the  country 
called  Babylonia.  The  capital  of  the  Empire  was  Babylon. 
As  to  other  cities,  the  ruins  of  Erech,  of  Calneh,  and  of 
Ur,  the  birthplace  of  Abraham,  have  been  identified. 


46        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

The  inhabitants  of  Chaldaea,  of  whom  most  is  known, 
were  undoubtedly  of  the  Semitic  race,  and  spoke  a  Semitic 
language  closely  akin  to  Hebrew.  But  the  study  of  cune- 
iform inscriptions  has  revealed  that  there  was  here  an 
earlier  race  as  well  as  an  earlier  civilization  than  that  of 
the  Semites.  This  race,  that  of  the  Hittites,  appears  to 
have  been  absorbed  by  the  Semites  and  disappears  from 
history;  but  its  influence  on  the  later  civilization  and  devel- 
opment of  Chaldaea  was  very  important,  more  especially 
as  it  is  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  the  cuneiform  system 
of  writing,  and  of  much  besides  pertaining  to  arts  and  sci- 
ence. 

The  beginnings  of  civilization  in  Babylonia  may  per- 
haps be  set  down  at  about  5000  B.  C.  In  the  cuneiform 
inscriptions  there  is  an  account  of  a  great  flood,  strikingly 
similar  in  details  to  the  flood  in  the  time  of  Noah.  At 
some  time,  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  years,  before 
2000  B.  C.,  the  Kings  of  Elam  invaded  Babylonia,  and 
for  a  time  established  themselves  as  rulers  over  it  and 
Mesopotamia,  and  their  supremacy  lasted  several  centu- 
ries. Elam  was  a  mountainous  country  to  the  eastward 
of  Chaldaea,  its  capital  being  Susa.  It  is  to  this  period  of 
Chaldsean  history  that  Abraham's  connection  with  the 
country  belongs.  It  has  been  supposed  that  in  Abraham's 
time,  about  2100  B.  C.,  Chaldaea  contained  a  Semitic  pop- 
ulation professing  a  pure  form  of  religion,  in  the  midst  of 
idolaters,  and  that  Abraham,  who  was  of  Semitic  race, 
was  called  to  emigrate  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  with  a  view 
to  the  preservation  of  the  pure  faith.  Chedorlaomer,  King 
of  Elam,  invaded  the  land  of  Canaan  soon  after  Abraham 
had  migrated  there,  and,  in  his  retreat  with  booty,  was 
pursued  and  beaten  by  the  brave  patriarch. 

The  period  2000-1000  B.  C.  was  the  most  flourishing 
period  of  the  monarchy,  and  Chaldaea  was  then  the  fore- 


CHALDEANS  47 

most  state  of  Western  Asia  in  power  as  well  as  in  science, 
art,  and  civilization.  The  rule  of  its  princes  extended  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates  and  over  Mesopotamia  and  the 
Upper  Tigris.  The  rise  of  the  powerful  Assyrian  Empire 
was  what  brought  the  downfall  of  Chaldaea,  though  it  was 
able  to  maintain  its  independence  against  this  rival  down 
to  the  Ninth  Century  B.  C.  Indeed,  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  thoroughly  subdued,  though  greatly  reduced 
from  its  former  extent  and  power,  till  nearly  two  centuries 
later. 

With  the  Chaldaeans,  as  with  the  Egyptians,  the  art  of 
writing,  at  first  in  the  pictorial  or  hieroglyphic  form,  was 
early  developed.  Cuneiform,  or  wedge-shaped,  writ- 
ing is  a  later  stage  of  the  pictorial,  and  the  Chaldseans  may 
thus  claim  to  be  one  of  the  nations  that  invented  alpha- 
betical writing.  The  contents  of  their  tombs  prove  that 
they  had  much  skill  in  pottery,  and  could  make  in  various 
metals  such  articles  as  bracelets,  ear-rings,  fishhooks,  nails, 
bolts,  rings,  and  chains.  Philip  Smith  says :  "It  is,  how- 
ever, by  their  cultivation  of  arithmetic  and  astronomy,  and 
the  application  of  these  sciences  to  the  uses  of  common  life, 
that  the  Chaldaeans  have  left  the  most  permanent  impress 
upon  all  succeeding  ages.  .  .  .  All  the  systems  of 
weights  and  measures  used  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  down  to  the  present  time,  are  based  upon  the  sys- 
tem which  they  invented.  .  .  .  Astronomical  science 
seems  to  have  been  the  chief  portion  of  the  learning  handed 
down  by  the  Chaldsean  priests  as  an  hereditary  possession. 
.  .  .  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  mapped  out 
the  Zodiac,  invented  the  names  which  we  still  use  for  the 
seven  days  of  the  week  (based  on  the  idea  that  each  hour 
of  the  day  was  governed  by  a  planet,  and  each  day  by  the 
governor  of  its  first  hour,  and  from  this  one  the  day 
received  its  name)  .  .  .  and  measured  time  by  the 


48       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

water-clock.  .  .  .  Connected  with  their  astronomy 
and  star-worship  they  had  an  elaborate  system  of  judicial 
astrology."  The  importance  attributed  to  astronomy  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  there  were  astronomers-royal  in 
several  of  the  cities,  who  had  to  send  in  reports  regularly 
to  the  King.  The  towers,  such  as  that  of  Babel,  were  prob- 
ably both  temples  and  observatories.  The  clearness  of  the 
sky  and  the  levelness  of  the  horizon  on  all  sides  favored 
the  study  of  astronomy,  which  was,  moreover,  connected 
with  religion.  It  is  known  that  Chaldaeans  worshiped 
the  heavenly  bodies.  When  Babylon  was  taken  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great  in  B.  C.  331,  there  was  found  in  the  city 
a  series  of  observations  of  the  stars  dating  from  B.  C.  2234. 

The  Assyrians  were  a  Semitic  people,  like  the  Chal- 
daeans, Hebrews,  Arabs,  and  Phoenicians,  and  first 
acquired  power  in  the  district  called  Assyria,  between  the 
Upper  Tigris  and  the  Zagros  Mountains.  Assyria  was  in 
all  probability  peopled  from  Chaldsea,  as  the  language, 
writing,  and  religion  of  both  peoples  exhibit  the  closest 
relationship  and  agreement.  At  an  early  period  the  Assyr- 
ians were  subject  to  the  Chaldaean  monarchy,  but  their 
warlike  spirit  enabled  them  to  become  independent  and  to 
effect  conquests  among  their  neighbors,  gaining  at  last  the 
ascendency  over  Babylonia.  Toward  the  end  of  the  Four- 
teenth Century  B.  C.,  Shalmaneser  is  said  to  have  founded 
the  city  of  Calah  on  the  upper  Tigris,  and  to  have  restored 
the  great  temple  at  the  ancient  city  of  Nineveh. 

The  early  history  of  the  Empire  is  still  obscure,  and 
no  attention  need  be  paid  to  the  legends  of  Greek  writers 
about  Ninus,  and  the  warrior-Queen  Semiramis,  and  the 
voluptuous  King  Sardanapalus.  About  1120  B.  C.,  Tig- 
lath-Pileser  I  conquered  nations  to  the  west  and  north  of 
Assyria,  and  to  the  borders  of  Babylonia  on  the  south. 
He  made  his  dominions  stretch  from  the  Mediterranean 


ASSYRIANS  49 

to  the  Caspian,  and  was  the  greatest  monarch  of  the  ear- 
lier Assyrian  period,  but  was  not  able  to  subdue  the  Chal- 
dseans. 

After  the  death  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I  comes  a  long  time 
of  obscurity.  Asurnasirpal  carried  on  extensive  war- 
like operations  and  made  important  conquests  in  the  West. 
To  him  are  attributed  many  of  the  great  architectural 
works  which  have  been  lately  discovered.  He  reigned 
from  B.  C.  884  to  859,  and  under  him  Assyria  became  the 
leading  Empire  of  the  world.  He  built  afresh  the  city  of 
Calah,  then  in  ruins.  The  magnificent  palaces  and  tem- 
ples built  during  this  reign,  with  the  sculptures  and  paint- 
ings that  adorn  them,  prove  the  existence  of  great  wealth 
and  luxury,  and  the  development  of  much  artistic  ability. 
His  son  Shalmaneser  II,  was  successful  in  war  against  the 
monarch  of  Babylon,  Benhadad,  King  of  Damascus,  the 
rulers  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  Jehu,  King  of  Israel.  In 
B.  C  745  Tiglath-Pileser  II  became  King  of  Assyria.  He 
made  himself  master  of  Babylon,  and  had  great  successes 
in  war  against  Syria  and  Armenia,  extending  the  Empire 
from  Lake  Van  on  the  north  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  from 
the  borders  of  India  to  those  of  Egypt  Sargon  reigned 
from  B.  C.  722  to  705,  and  was  engaged  in  war  against 
Samaria,  which  he  captured,  carrying  the  people  into  cap- 
tivity; against  King  Sabako,  of  Egypt,  whom  he  defeated; 
and  the  revolted  Armenians,  whom  he  thoroughly  sub- 
dued. He  then  turned  against  Merodach-Baladan,  King 
of  Babylonia,  and  drove  him  from  his  throne,  and,  after 
a  period  spent  in  internal  reforms,  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  the  famous  Sennacherib.  This  warlike  monarch 
marched  into  Syria  in  B.  C.  701,  captured  Zidon  and  As- 
kelon,  defeated  the  forces  of  Hezekiah,  King  of  Judah, 
with  his  Egyptian  and  Ethiopian  allies,  and  made  Heze- 
kiah pay  tribute.  In  B.  C.  700  Sennacherib  marched  into 

Vor,.  i  —  4 


Arabia,  where  he  defeated  Tirhakah,  King  of  Egypt  and 
Ethiopia,  and  then  his  army  perished  before  Libnah,  in 
the  south  of  Judah,  by  the  catastrophe  recorded  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  Sennacherib  was  engaged,  on  his 
return  to  Assyria,  in  crushing  rebellions  of  the  Babylon- 
ians, constructing  canals  and  aqueducts,  and  greatly 
adding  to  the  size  and  splendor  of  Nineveh.  In  68 1  he 
was  murdered  by  two  of  his  sons,  and  another  son,  Esar- 
haddon,  became  King  in  680.  Esar-haddon  made  success- 
ful expeditions  into  Syria,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  as  far  as 
the  Caucasus  Mountains,  and  after  the  erection  of  splendid 
buildings  at  Nimrud  and  other  cities,  was  succeeded  in 
667  by  his  son,  Asurbanipal  (the  origin  of  the  Greek 
"Sardanapalus"). 

The  Assyrian  Empire  was  at  its  height  of  power  under 
the  Kings  Sennacherib,  Esar-haddon,  and  Asurbanipal. 
The  states  nominally  subject  to  the  Assyrian  King,  paying 
tribute  and  homage,  extended  from  the  river  Halys,  in 
Asia  Minor,  and  the  sea-board  of  Syria,  on  the  west,  to 
the  Persian  Desert  on  the  east,  and  from  the  Caspian  Sea 
and  the  Armenian  Mountains,  on  the  north,  to  Arabia 
and  the  Persian  Gulf,  on  the  south,  and  latterly  included 
Egypt.  But  these  states  were  held  together  by  a  very  loose 
bond  of  connection,  and  we  read  in  the  Assyrian  history, 
on  the  monuments,  of  constant  wars,  revolts,  crushings 
of  rebellion,  and  rebellion  renewed.  The  risings  of  tribu- 
tary states  were  put  down  with  great  severity,  which 
included  the  carrying  of  whole  peoples  into  captivity,  and 
the  destruction  of  cities,  but  no  effectual  measures  were 
taken  to  secure  allegiance  in  subjugated  nations,  and  the 
Empire  was  doomed  to  be  the  victim  of  the  first  really 
powerful  assailant. 

Asurbanipal  inherited  Egypt  as  part  of  his  dominions, 
but  his  power  was  not  firmly  established  in  that  country 


ASSYRIANS  51 

until  he  led  an  expedition  there  and  sacked  the  city  of 
Thebes.  He  erected  splendid  buildings  at  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  and  did  much  for  literature  and  the  arts,  so  that 
under  him  there  was  a  great  development  of  luxury  and 
splendor.  He  died  in  B.  C.  625,  and  soon  afterwards 
Babylonia,  for  the  last  time,  and  now  successfully, 
revolted.  The  Babylonians  marched  from  the  south 
against  Nineveh,  under  their  governor  Nabopolassar,  and 
the  now  powerful  Medes,  from  the  north,  came  against  it 
under  their  King,  Cyaxares.  Nineveh  was  taken  and 
given  to  the  flames,  which  have  left  behind  them  in  the 
mounds  the  calcined  stone,  charred  wood,  and  statues  spilt 
by  heat,  that  furnish  silent  and  convincing  proof  of  the 
catastrophe.  Thus,  about  B.  C.  625,  warlike,  splendid, 
proud  Assyria  fell. 

Modern  research  has  unearthed  much  of  the  remains 
of  Nineveh  from  beneath  the  mounds  that  for  many  miles 
are  found  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Tigris.  We  are 
not  to  think  of  it  as  being  like  a  city  of  modern  times, 
composed  of  continuous  or  nearly  adjacent  buildings.  The 
city  was  a  large  expanse,  supposed  to  be  at  least  sixty  miles 
in  circuit,  containing  temples,  palaces,  pasture-lands, 
ploughed  fields  and  hunting-parks,  as  well  as  the  dwellings 
of  the  people,  built  of  sun-dried  bricks.  It  thus  resembled 
a  modern  suburban  district,  but  included  the  stately  struc- 
tures for  the  uses  of  religion  and  of  royalty,  which  in 
modern  cities  usually  hold  a  central  place  amongst  dense 
masses  of  connected  streets  and  squares.  At  the  time  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  in  the  Fourth  Century  B.  C.,  almost 
every  trace  of  the  great  city  in  which  Jonah  preached 
repentance  had  vanished,  save  the  shapeless  mounds  of 
earth. 

The  Assyrian  language  was  much  like  the  Hebrew  and 
Phoenician,  and  had  a  literature  comprising  hymns  to  the 


52        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

gods,  mythological  and  epic  poems,  and  works  on  astrol- 
ogy, law,  and  chronology.  The  religion  of  Assyria  was 
a  worship  of  various  gods,  representing  the  powers  of 
nature,  and  especially  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  great 
national  deity  was  Asur,  appearing  in  the  nation's  name 
and  in  those  of  many  of  the  Kings.  All  religion  was  con- 
nected with  royalty,  and  in  the  pure  despotism  of  Assyria 
the  King  was  himself  a  deity,  a  type  of  the  supreme  being. 
All  his  acts  in  peace  or  war,  were  divine  acts,  and  his  robes 
and  ornaments  all  have  embroideries  and  figured  animals 
of  mystical  religious  import. 

Assyrian  art  must  be  considered  great  in  architecture 
and  sculpture.  The  emblematic  figures  of  the  gods  show 
dignity  and  grandeur.  The  scenes  from  real  life,  of  war, 
and  of  the  chase,  are  bold  and  vivid;  and  in  succeeding 
ages  marked  progress  is  shown  in  the  acquirement  of  a 
more  free,  natural,  lifelike,  and  varied  execution,  though 
the  artists  never  learnt  perspective  and  proportion.  The 
Assyrians,  as  the  sculptures  and  other  remains  prove,  con- 
structed arches,  tunnels,  and  aqueducts;  they  were  skilled 
in  engraving  gems,  and  in  the  arts  of  enameling  and  inlay- 
ing; they  made  porcelain,  transparent  and  colored  glass, 
and  even  lenses;  ornaments  of  bronze  and  ivory,  bells  and 
golden  bracelets,  and  earrings  of  good  design  and  work- 
manship, were  all  produced.  In  mechanics,  and  for 
measuring  time,  they  used  the  pulley,  the  lever,  the  water- 
clock,  and  the  sun-dial.  Their  astronomical  science  was 
that  of  the  Chaldsean  philosophers. 

The  implements  and  methods  used  in  war,  as  the  mon- 
uments show,  included  swords,  spears,  maces,  and  bows 
and  arrows,  as  weapons  of  offence;  cavalry  and  chariots 
for  charging;  movable  towers  and  battering-rams  for 
sieges;  and  circular  entrenched  camps  as  quarters  for  a 
military  force.  The  one  thing  wanting  in  Assyria,  as  in 


BABYLONIANS  53 

ether  Eastern  Empires,  for  continued  sway,  was  the  genius 
for  government  which  could  at  least  make  subject  nations 
satisfied  to  serve,  if  it  could  not  mould  them  into  one 
coherent  whole. 

The  history  of  the  later  Babylonian  Empire  begins 
with  the  year  625  B.  C,  and  ends  in  538  with  its  subjec- 
tion to  Persia.  The  founder  of  the  Empire  was  Nabopo- 
lassar,  the  Assyrian  general  who  joined  the  Medes  in 
the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  power.  Babylon  then 
became  an  independent  Kingdom,  extending  from  the  val- 
ley of  the  lower  Euphrates  to  Mount  Taurus,  and  partly 
over  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Palestine. 

Nabopolassar  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  the  famous 
Nebuchadnezzar,  who  reigned  from  B.  C.  604  to  561,  and 
carried  his  arms  with  success  against  the  cities  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  Tyre,  and  even  into  Egypt.  The  Empire  was  at 
its  height  of  power  and  glory  under  him,  and  extended 
from  the  Euphrates  to  Egypt,  and  from  the  deserts  of 
Arabia  on  the  south  to  the  Armenian  Mountains  on  the 
north.  Nebuchadnezzar's  chief  work  in  home  affairs  was 
the  renovation  and  decoration  of  the  great  city  Babylon, 
capital  of  the  Empire.  This  famous  place  was  built  on 
both  sides  of  the  Euphrates,  and,  on  its  completion  by 
Nebuchadnezzar,  formed  a  square  said  to  have  been  sixty 
miles  in  circuit.  The  clay  of  the  country  furnished  abun- 
dant and  excellent  brick,  and  springs  of  bitumen  supplied 
a  powerful  cement.  The  walls  of  the  city  were  of  im- 
mense height  and  thickness,  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch, 
and  having  a  hundred  brazen  gates.  Like  Nineveh,  the 
city  included  large  open  spaces,  some  being  parks  and 
pleasure-grounds  of  the  King  and  the  nobles.  The  arch- 
itectural wonder  of  the  place  were  the  temple  of  Belus,  a 
huge  eight-storied  tower,  the  remains  of  which  are  be- 
lieved to  be  identified  at  Birs  Nimrud,  "the  tower  of  Nim- 


54        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

rod,"  on  the  west  side  of  the  Euphrates,  six  miles  south- 
west of  the  town  of  Hillah;  and  the  "hanging  gardens" 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  which  consisted  of  a  series  of  terraces 
rising  one  above  another,  supported  by  huge  pillars  and 
arches,  and  covered  with  earth,  in  which  grew  beautiful 
shrubs  and  trees. 

The  carrying  into  captivity  of  the  Jews  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  the  pride  of  his  heart,  his  image  of  gold  in  the 
plain  of  Dura,  his  fiery  furnace,  his  strange  madness, 
recovery,  and  repentance,  are  well  known  from  the  inter- 
esting and  eloquent  account  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  as 
written  by  the  prophet  Daniel. 

Nebuchadnezzar  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Evil-  Mero- 
dach,  the  friend  of  Jehoiachin,  captive  King  of  Judah.  He 
was  followed  by  Neriglassar,  a  successful  conspirator 
against  his  power  and  life,  who,  after  some  years,  was 
defeated  and  slain  in  battle  against  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians. After  a  few  months  of  tyranny,  ended  by  assassina- 
tion, under  the  cruel  and  sensual  Laborosoarchod,  the  last 
Babylonian  monarch,  Nabonadius  came  to  the  throne,  in 
B.  C.  555.  The  Medes  and  Persians  to  the  north  had  now 
become  a  formidable  power,  and  in  540  the  Babylonians 
came  into  collision  with  them.  The  Persian  King,  Cyrus, 
marched  against  Babylon,  and  under  its  walls  defeated 
Nabonadius,  who  fled  to  Borsippa,  a  city  to  the  south  of 
Babylon.  The  capital  was  held  by  a  son  of  Nabonadius, 
who  had  been  made  co-king  with  his  father,  and  is  known 
to  us  by  the  name  of  Belshazzar.  The  revelries  of  this 
sovereign  during  the  siege,  the  handwriting  on  the  wall, 
and  his  death  on  that  same  night,  are  given  in  the  Scrip- 
tural narrative  of  Daniel.  According  to  Herodotus,  the 
army  of  Cyrus  entered  the  city  along  the  bed  of  the  river 
Euphrates,  which  they  had  drained  off  into  canals,  and 
thus  the  Babylonian  Empire  fell  in  B.  C.  538,  and  became 


BABYLONIANS  55 

a  province  of  the  Persian  Empire.  Recently  deciphered 
inscriptions,  however,  would  seem  to  prove  that  this 
account  is  erroneous,  and  that  the  city  was  surrendered 
without  any  siege.  The  site  of  the  great  city  of  Babylon 
is  now  a  marsh  formed  by  inundations  of  the  river,  due 
to  the  destruction  of  the  embankments  and  the  choking  up 
of  the  canals. 

The  Assyrians  were,  pre-eminently,  a  warlike,  the 
Babylonians  a  commercial  and  luxurious  people.  The 
position  of  the  great  city  on  the  lower  Euphrates,  near  to 
the  Persian  Gulf,  made  it  a  great  emporium  for  the  trade 
between  India  and  Eastern  Asia  and  Western  Asia,  with 
the  nearest  parts  of  Africa  and  Europe.  From  Ceylon 
came  ivory,  cinnamon,  and  ebony;  spices  from  the  East- 
ern islands ;  myrrh  and  frankincense  from  Arabia ;  cotton, 
pearls,  and  valuable  timber,  both  for  shipbuilding  and 
ornament,  from  the  islands  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  There 
was  also  a  great  caravan  trade  with  Northern  India  and 
adjacent  lands,  whence  came  gold,  dyes,  jewels,  and  fine 
wool.  The  wealth  of  Babylon  became  prodigious  and 
proverbial,  and  her  commerce  was  in  large  measure  due  to 
ingenious  and  splendid  manufactures.  Carpets,  curtains, 
and  fine  muslins,  skillfully  woven  and  brilliantly  dyed,  of 
elegant  pattern  and  varied  hue,  were  famous  wherever 
luxury  was  known.  The  Babylonian  gems  in  the  British 
Museum  display  art  of  the  highest  order  in  cutting  preci- 
ous stones. 

The  system  of  government  was  a  pure  despotism,  with 
viceroys  ruling  the  provinces  under  the  monarch,  who 
dwelt  in  luxurious  seclusion  from  his  people.  The  fall  of 
Babylon  was  a  proof  that  the  real  power  of  nations  does 
not  reside  in  trade  and  luxury  and  wealth,  but  in  the  spirit, 
equal  to  the  occasions  both  of  peace  and  of  war,  developed 
in  a  people  by  the  possession  of  freedom. 


56       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

THE   ISRAELITES 

The  Hebrews  were  a  pure  Semitic  race,  akin  to  the 
Phoenicians,  Chaldseans,  and  Assyrians.  The  founder  of 
the  nation  was  Abraham,  who  in  the  Twentieth  or  Twenty- 
first  Century  B.  C,  removed  from  the  plains  of  Mesopo- 
tamia to  the  land  of  Canaan,  on  the  south-eastern  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

In  this  people  we  have  the  worship  of  the  one  spiritual 
God — Jehovah — the  purely  One.  In  the  Jewish  idea  He 
was  the  God  of  a  family  that  became  a  nation — the  God  of 
Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  He  who  commanded 
them  to  depart  out  of  Egypt  and  gave  them  the  land  of 
Canaan.  With  the  other  Eastern  nations,  the  primary 
and  fundamental  existence  was  Nature;  but  that,  with  the 
Hebrews,  becomes  a  mere  creature,  and  Spirit  is  foremost. 
God  is  the  creator  of  Nature  and  all  men,  the  only  first 
cause  of  all  things.  The  great  element  in  the  Jewish 
religion  was  exclusive  unity — only  one  people,  only  one 
God.  All  other  gods  were  regarded  as  thoroughly  false; 
nothing  divine  was  admitted  to  exist  in  them.  In  the 
religion  of  the  Hebrews,  Spirit  became  the  one  great  truth, 
and  true  morality  appeared;  God  was  honored,  and  could 
be  honored,  only  by  righteousness,  the  reward  of  which 
was  to  be  happiness,  life,  and  temporal  prosperity. 

Their  earliest  history,  as  told  in  the  Bible,  that  of  Abra- 
ham and  his  first  descendant,  is  merely  a  family  history, 
and  the  Jewish  nation  begins  with  the  departure  from 
Egypt  in  B.  C.  1491.  The  interval  between  that  time  and 
the  conquest  of  Judaea  by  the  Romans  may  be  divided  into 
four  periods. 

From  the  departure  out  of  Egypt  to  the  establishment 
of  the  monarchy  under  Saul,  B.  C.  1491-1095 ; 

From  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy  to  the  sepa- 


THE  ISRAELITES  57 

ration  into  the  two  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah,  B.  C. 

1095-975; 

From  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms  to  the  Babylon- 
ian captivity,  B.  C.  975-588; 

From  the  Babylonian  captivity  to  the  conquest  of 
Judaea  by  Rome,  B.  C.  588-63. 

The  first  period  opens,  on  the  departure  from  Egypt, 
with  the  theocracy  or  government  by  God  in  revelations 
of  His  will  to  the  people,  through  laws  directly  given  from 
Sinai,  and  communications  made  to  the  high-priest.  This 
lasted,  during  the  wanderings  in  the  wilderness  under 
Moses,  and  the  conquest  of  Canaan  under  Joshua,  until 
B.  C.  1426.  Then  came  the  Federal  Republic,  from  1426 
to  1095,  under  which  system  the  tribes  were  separately 
governed,  subject  to  the  divine  laws,  by  their  own  patri- 
archs, but  were  all  united  in  one  state  and  one  common 
bond  by  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  As  the  people  from  time 
to  time  fell  off  into  idolatry,  they  suffered  at  the  hands  of 
neighboring  tribes,  and  rulers  called  "Judges"  were  given 
by  divine  appointment  to  deliver  the  people,  governing 
according  to  the  divine  laws,  and  having  no  royal  preroga- 
tives. Of  this  line  of  rulers  the  last  single  governor  wa/ 
the  Prophet  Samuel,  and  the  misconduct  of  his  sons  caused 
the  people  to  ask  for  a  King  to  be  appointed  over  them. 

The  time  of  the  sole  monarchy  includes  three  reigns, 
those  of  Saul,  David,  and  Solomon.  Saul  reigned  for 
nearly  forty  years,  from  B.  C.  1095  to  1056,  and,  after 
wars  with  neighboring  heathens  called  Moabites,  Edom- 
ites,  Amalekites,  etc.,  was  defeated  and  driven  to  suicide 
by  the  powerful  Philistines.  Saul's  son-in-law,  David,  the 
son  of  Jesse,  reigned  also  about  forty  years,  from  B.  C. 
1056  to  1015,  and  having  conquered  Jerusalem  from  the 
Jebusites  in  1048,  made  it  the  capital  of  his  kingdom,  the 
seat  of  the  national  government  and  religion.  David  was 


58        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

a  warlike  monarch,  and  conquered  the  Philistines,  Moab- 
ites,  Edomites,  and  Syrians,  extending  his  power  from  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  Euphrates.  His  son  Solomon  succeeded 
him  in  B.  C.  1015,  and  also  reigned  forty  years,  from  1015 
to  975.  Under  him  the  Jewish  nation  attained  the  height 
of  its  power,  and  he  confirmed  and  extended  the  con- 
'  quests  of  David.  Solomon  married  a  daughter  of  a 
Pharaoh,  King  of  Egypt,  formed  an  alliance  with  Hiram, 
King  of  Tyre,  built  the  magnificent  temple  at  Jerusalem, 
and  made  his  kingdom  the  supreme  monarchy  in  Western 
Asia.  An  extensive  commerce  was  carried  on  by  land 
and  sea.  Solomon's  ships,  manned  by  Phoenician  sailors, 
traded  to  the  furthest  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  west- 
ward, and  from  ports  on  the  Red  Sea  to  Southern  Arabia, 
Ethiopia,  and  perhaps  India.  From  Egypt  came  horses, 
chariots,  and  linen;  ivory,  gold,  silver,  peacocks  and  apes 
from  Tarshish  or  Tartessus,  a  district  in  the  south  of 
Spain;  and  gold,  spices,  and  jewels  from  the  place  called 
Ophir,  variously  placed  in  Southern  Arabia,  India,  and 
Eastern  Africa,  south  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  corn,  wine 
and  oil  of  Judaea  were  exchanged  by  Solomon  for  the 
cedars  of  Lebanon  supplied  by  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre. 

On  the  death  of  Solomon,  in  B.C.  975,  the  temporal 
glory  of  the  Hebrews  was  eclipsed.  Ten  of  the  twelve 
tribes  revolted  against  Solomon's  son  and  successor,  Reho- 
boam,  and  formed  a  separate  Kingdom  of  Israel,  with 
Samaria  as  capital,  while  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin 
made  up  the  Kingdom  of  Judah,  having  Jerusalem  for  the 
chief  city.  The  Syrian  possessions  were  lost;  the  Am- 
monites became  independent ;  commerce  declined ;  idolatry 
crept  in  and  grew;  the  prophets  of  God  threatened  and 
warned  in  vain;  gleams  of  success  against  neighboring 
nations  were  mingled  with  defeat  and  disgrace  suffered 
from  the  Edomites,  Philistines,  and  Syrians,  until,  in  B.C. 


THE  ISRAELITES  59 

740,  Tiglath-pileser  II,  King  of  Assyria,  carried  off  into 
captivity  to  Media  the  tribes  east,  and  partly  west,  of  the 
Jordan — Reuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh.  In  B.C.  721  Sar- 
gon,  King  of  Assyria,  took  Samaria,  and  carried  away 
the  people  of  Israel  as  captives,  beyond  the  Euphrates. 
The  Kingdom  of  Israel  thus  came  to  an  end  after  a  dura- 
tion of  about  250  years.  In  B.C.  713  Judah,  under  King 
Hezekiah,  was  attacked  by  Sennacherib,  King  of  Assyria, 
and  relieved  by  the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  army.  A 
time  of  peace  and  prosperity  followed,  but  in  677  the 
Assyrians  again  invaded  the  country,  and  carried  off  King 
Manasseh  to  Babylon.  In  B.C.  624  the  good  King  Josiah 
repaired  the  temple  and  put  down  idolatry,  but  was  de- 
feated and  slain  by  the  Egyptian  King,  Pharaoh-Necho, 
in  610.  In  B.C.  606  Nebuchadnezzar,  King  of  Babylon, 
took  Jerusalem,  and  made  the  King,  Jehoiakim,  tributary ; 
on  his  revolt  Jerusalem  was  again  taken,  and  10,000  cap- 
tives of  the  higher  class  were  carried  off  to  Babylon,  with 
the  treasures  of  the  palace  and  temple,  in  599.  In  B.C. 
593  the  Jewish  King,  Zedekiah,  revolted  from  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who  now  determined  to  make  an  end  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  rebellious  nation.  In  B.C.  588  Jerusalem  was 
taken  and  plundered;  the  walls  were  destroyed,  and  the 
city  and  temple  burnt,  and  nearly  the  whole  nation  was 
carried  away  as  prisoners  to  Babylon.  For  over  fifty 
years  the  land  lay  desolate,  and  the  history  of  the  Hebrew 
nation  is  transferred  to  the  land  where  they  mourned  in 
exile. 

The  history  of  the  Jews  during  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity is  contained  chiefly  in  the  book  of  Daniel,  and  in- 
cludes the  episodes  of  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego, 
the  faithful  Jews  thrown  into  the  furnace  by  order  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  of  Daniel's  deliverance  when  he  was 
thrown  into  a  pit  containing  lions  by  order  of  Darius  the 


60        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Mede,  or  Cyaxares  II,  who  was  placed  by  the  success  of 
his  nephew  Cyrus  on  the  throne  of  Babylon  after  the  death 
of  Belshazzar.  In  B.C.  537  Cyaxares  II  died,  and  Cyrus 
became  monarch  of  the  Persian  Empire.  He  issued  an 
edict  in  B.  C.  536,  by  which  the  Jews  were  allowed  to 
return  to  Jerusalem  and  rebuild  their  temple.  Nearly 
50,000  Jews,  chiefly  of  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin, 
went  to  the  old  home  of  their  race  under  the  command  of 
Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua,  taking  with  them  many  of  the 
vessels  of  silver  and  gold  carried  away  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Zerubbabel  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  land, 
now  a  dependency  of  the  Persian  Empire.  In  B.C.  519 
the  Persian  King,  Darius  Hystaspis,  confirmed  the  edict 
of  Cyrus,  and  in  515  the  temple  was  completed  and  dedi- 
cated. The  ten  tribes  disappear  at  this  time  from  history, 
such  of  them  as  returned  to  their  land  having  united  them- 
selves with  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  henceforth  the  Hebrews 
are  called  Jews  and  their  country  Judaea.  In  the  reign  of 
the  Persian  King,  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  more  of  the 
Jews  emigrated  from  Babylonia  to  Judaea  under  the  com- 
mand of  Ezra,  B.C.  458,  and  Ezra  was  Governor  of  the 
land  until  445.  Nehemiah  was  Governor,  (with  an  inter- 
val), from  445  to  420,  and  under  him  the  walls  and  towers 
of  Jerusalem  were  rebuilt,  and  the  city  acquired  something 
of  its  ancient  importance.  With  B.  C.  420  the  history  of 
the  Jews  ends,  as  far  as  the  Scriptural  narrative  goes  in 
books  esteemed  to  be  of  sacred  authority. 

From  420  to  332  Judaea  continued  subject  to  Persia, 
paying  a  yearly  tribute,  and  being  governed  by  the  high- 
priest,  under  the  Satrap  of  Syria.  In  B.C.  332  Alexander 
the  Great,  then  engaged  in  conquering  the  Persian  Em- 
pire, visited  Jerusalem,  and  showed  respect  to  the  High- 
priest  and  the  sacred  rites  of  the  Temple.  In  330  the 
Persian  Empire  fell  under  the  arms  of  Alexander,  who 


THE  ISRAELITES  61 

died  at  Babylon  in  B.  C.  323.  Judaea  was  taken  possession 
of  by  Alexander's  General,  Ptolemy  Lagus,  and  from  300 
to  202  B.C.  was  governed  by  the  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemies, 
ruling  Egypt,  Arabia  Petraea,  and  Southern  Syria.  The 
Government  was  administered  by  the  High-priest  under 
the  Ptolemies,  whose  capital  was  at  the  new  city  of  Alex- 
andria in  Egypt.  At  this  time  the  Jews  began  to  spread 
themselves  over  the  world,  the  Greek  language  became 
common  in  Judaea,  and  the  Septuagint  (or  Greek  version 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures),  was  written  during  this  and 
the  following  Century.  In  B.C.  202  Antiochus  the  Great, 
King  of  Syria  (including  in  its  empire  Asia  Minor,  Meso- 
potamia, Babylonia,  etc. ) ,  conquered  Judaea  from  Ptolemy 
V.  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  one  of  the  sons  and  successors 
of  the  great  Antiochus,  drove  the  Jews  to  rebellion  by 
persecution  and  profanation  of  their  Temple  and  religion. 
Under  the  great  patriot  and  hero,  Judas  Maccabaeus, 
the  Jews  asserted  their  religious  freedom  in  B.C.  166. 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  died  in  164,  and  Maccabaeus  fought 
with  success  against  the  Idumaeans,  Syrians,  Phoenicians, 
and  others,  who  had  formed  a  league  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Jews.  In  163  Judas  Maccabaeus  became  Governor 
of  Judaea  under  the  King  of  Syria,  but  fell  in  battle,  in 
161,  while  he  was  resisting  an  invasion  of  his  country  by 
the  troops  of  Demetrius  Soter,  new  ruler  of  the  Empire. 
His  brother,  Jonathan  Maccabaeus,  ruled  from  B.C.  161  to 
143  amidst  many  troubles  from  Syria,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother,  Simon  Maccabaeus,  who  strengthened  the 
land  by  fortifications,  was  recognized  by  the  Romans  as 
High-priest  and  ruler  of  Judaea,  and  fell  by  assassination 
in  B.C.  136.  His  son,  John  Hyrcanus,  threw  off  at  last 
the  yoke  of  Syria,  and  made  himself  master  of  all  Judsea, 
Galilee,  and  Samaria,,  reigning  then  in  peace  till  B.  C.  106, 
when  the  line  of  the  greater  Maccabaean  Princes  ended. 


62       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

A  miserable  time  of  civil  wars  and  religious  and  political 
faction  followed.  These  ended  in  the  interference  of 
Rome,  and  in  B.C.  63  Pompeius  Magnus  took  Jerusalem 
after  a  siege  of  three  months,  and  entered  the  "Holy  of 
Holies"  in  the  Temple,  with  a  profanation  before  unheard 
of  in  Jewish  history. 

From  this  time  the  Jewish  state  was  virtually  subject  to 
Rome,  and  became  in  the  end  a  part  of  the  Roman  province 
of  Syria.  The  turbulence  of  the  Jews  under  Roman  rule 
is  well  known,  and  a  general  rebellion  ended,  after  fearful 
bloodshed  and  misery,  in  the  capture  and  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  Titus,  A.  D.  70.  The  history,  as  a  separate 
political  body,  of  the  chosen  people  of  God,  unequaled  in 
the  annals  of  our  race  for  sin  and  suffering,  ends  with  the 
dispersion  of  their  remnant  over  the  face  of  the  civilized 
world. 

The  Hebrew  language,  in  the  antiquity  of  its  literary 
remains,  surpasses  all  the  other  Semitic  tongues,  and  in 
the  importance  of  its  chief  treasures,  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  canon,  outweighs  all  other  languages.  The 
country  of  the  Hebrew  nation  was  of  very  limited  extent ; 
the  political  value  of  the  race,  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
great  Eastern  empires,  was  trifling;  the  contributions  of 
the  Jews  to  art  and  science,  until  the  downfall  and  disper- 
sion of  the  people,  were  yet  more  insignificant.  It  was 
their  mission  to  conserve  and  to  convey  to  future  ages  that 
deposit  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth  which,  combined  with 
its  development  and  exaltation  in  the  form  of  Christianity, 
was  to  influence  mankind  in  all  time  to  come. 

THE   PHOENICIANS 

The  Phoenicians  were  the  people  most  distinguished 
in  the  most  ancient  times  for  industry,  commerce,  and 
navigation.  They  were  of  pure  Semitic  race,  closely  con- 


THE  PHOENICIANS  63 

nectecl  with  the  Hebrews  in  blood  and  language,  and  be- 
came a  separate  nation  so  early  that  they  are  found  to 
have  settled  on  the  southeastern  coasts  of  the  Mediterran- 
san  before  the  arrival  of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan,  in  the 
Fifteenth  Century  B.  C.  The  distinctive  character  of  the 
Phoenicians  among  the  nations  of  the  most  ancient  world 
is,  that  they  were  colonizers,  not  conquerors ;  peaceful  mer- 
chants, not  fighting  meddlers;  intrepid  and  enterprising 
seamen,  not  bold  and  ambitious  soldiers ;  industrious  and 
ingenious  workmen  and  cfeators,  not  ruthless  and  wanton 
destroyers  of  the  labors  of  their  fellow-men. 

A  high  place  in  the  history  of  ancient  civilization  is 
held  by  the  Phoenicians,  for  their  diffusion  of  commodities 
and  of  culture  partly  produced  at  home,  in  part  received 
from  abroad.  They  present  a  new  principle  of  develop- 
ment in  civilization,  that  of  a  nation  relying  solely  on  the 
activity  of  industry,  combined  with  the  careful  bravery 
which  dares  the  deep,  and  devises  means  of  safety  thereon. 
Man's  courage,  energy,  and  intelligence  is  brought  into 
play  mainly  for  the  benefit,  not  the  bane,  of  mankind. 
Foremost  in  Phoenicia  are  human  will  and  work,  not 
Nature's  bounty,  as  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Nile, 
Tigris,  and  Euphrates.  In  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  human 
subsistence  depended  largely  upon  Nature  and  the  sun; 
in  maritime  Phoenicia,  on  the  sailor's  skill  and  courage. 
Valor  gives  way  to  intelligence,  and  warlike  ferocity  to 
ingenuity,  in  this  sea-faring  and  manufacturing  life,  and 
thus  the  nations  were  freed  from  a  bondage  to  Nature  and 
from  fear  of  her  powers  upon  the  ever-flowing  sea. 

Phoenicia  was  a  narrow  strip  of  country  on  the  south- 
eastern coast  of  the  great  inland  sea  of  antiquity,  lying 
chiefly  between  Mount  Lebanon  and  the  Mediterranean 
shore,  and  extending  for  about  120  miles  north  of  Mount 
Carmel,  the  scene  of  the  contempt  poured  on  her  great 


64       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

god  Baal  by  the  prophet  Elijah.  Here  lay  the  cities  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  Byblus  and  Berytus,  Tripolis  and  Ptolemais. 
The  land  was  fertile,  and  rich  in  timber-trees  and  fruits, 
such  as  the  pine,  fir,  cypress,  sycamore,  and  cedar;  figs, 
olives,  dates,  pomegranates,  citrons,  almonds.  Here  was 
material  for  trade  abroad,  and  comfort  and  prosperity  at 
home,  and  the  coast  was  so  thickly  studded  with  towns  as 
almost  to  make  one  continuous  populated  line. 

Phoenicia's  history  is  peculiar  in  that  it  is  a  history  of 
separate  cities  and  colonies,  never  united  into  one  great 
independent  state,  though  now  and  then  alliances  existed 
between  several  cities  in  order  to  repel  a  common  danger. 
When  the  Israelites  conquered  Canaan  in  the  middle  of 
the  Fifteenth  Century  B.  C,  they  interfered  but  slightly 
with  Phoenicia,  and  the  two  peoples  dwelt  side  by  side  in 
friendship  nearly  always  undisturbed.  Each  city  of  Phoe- 
nicia was  governed  by  a  King  or  a  petty  chief,  under  or 
with  whom  an  aristocracy,  and  at  times  elective  magis- 
trates, called  in  Latin  suffetes,  appear  to  have  held  sway. 
But  Phoenician  government  is  an  obscure  and  unimportant 
subject;  the  genius  of  the  race  cared  little  for  political 
development,  and  was  one-sided  in  its  devotion  to  com- 
mercial matters,  regardless,  in  comparison,  of  freedom 
from  inward  or  external  domination.  The  two  chief 
cities  in  the  history  are  Sidon  and  Tyre. 

Of  these,  Sidon  was  probably  the  more  ancient,  being 
named  in  the  Pentateuch  as  chief  of  the  Phoenician  cities, 
while  its  richly  embroidered  robes  are  mentioned  in  the 
Homeric  poems.  It  was  the  greatest  maritime  place  until 
its  colony,  Tyre,  surpassed  it,  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
subject  to  Tyre  in  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon.  About 
700  B.C.  it  became  independent  again,  but  was  taken  by 
Nebuchadnezzar,  King  of  Babylon,  about  B.C.  600,  and 
became  subject  to  Persia  about  B.C.  500.  Under  the 


THE  PHOENICIANS  65 

Persian  rule,  it  was  a  great  and  populous  city,  and,  coming 
into  the  hands  of  Alexander  the  Great  in  B.C.  333,  helped 
him  with  a  fleet  in  his  siege  of  Tyre.  Its  history  ends  with 
submission  to  Roman  power  in  the  last  Century,  year 
63  B.C.  Tyre  was  a  powerful  city  as  early  as  1200  B.C. 
The  friendship  of  her  King  Hiram  with  Solomon  (reigned 
B.  C.  101 5-975  )  is  well  known  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
and  at  this  time  the  commerce  of  Tyre  was  foremost  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  her  ships  sailed  into  the  Indian 
Ocean  from  the  port  of  Elath  on  the  Red  Sea.  Tyre  is 
celebrated  in  history  for  her  obstinate  resistance  to  ene- 
mies. Sargon,  King  of  Assyria,  besieged  the  city  in  vain 
for  five  years,  6^.721-717.  Nebuchadnezzar  took  thir- 
teen years,  B.C.  598-585,  to  capture  the  place  partially, 
and  it  was  only  taken  by  Alexander  the  Great  after  a  seven 
months'  siege,  in  B.C.  332.  The  old  glory  of  Tyre  de- 
parted with  the  transfer  of  her  chief  trade  to  her  con- 
queror's creation,  Alexandria,  though  the  indomitable 
energy  of  the  Phoenician  race  had  again,  in  Roman  times, 
made  her  a  great  seat  of  trade. 

Phoenicia  was  at  the  height  of  prosperity  from  the 
Eleventh  to  the  Sixth  Centuries  B.C.  As  a  colonizing 
country  she  preceded  the  Greeks  on  the  shores  and  islands 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  sent  her  ships  to  regions  that  the 
Greeks  knewnothingof,saveby  report  of  the  bold  mariners 
of  Tyre.  Until  the  rise  of  Alexandria,  about  B.  C.  300,  the 
sea-trade  of  Phoenicia  was  rivaled  only  by  that  of  Carthage, 
her  own  colony,  and  she  still  kept  up  her  great  land-trade 
by  caravans  with  Arabia,  with  Central  Asia  and  Northern 
India  (through  Babylonia),  and  with  Scythia  and  the  Cau- 
casian countries,  through  Armenia.  Their  colonies  were 
planted  on  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  in 
Cyprus,  Rhodes,  the  Islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea,  Sardinia, 
Sicily,  the  Balearic  Islands,  Cilicia  (in  southeast  of  Asia 
Vox,.  1—5 


»6        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Minor) ,  and  in  Spain.  Westward,  they  even  passed  out  of 
the  Mediterranean,  and  were  the  founders  at  an  early  period  . 
of  Gades,  the  modern  Cadiz.  They  first  in  all  the  ancient 
world  pushed  out  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  crossed  the 
stormy  region  of  the  "Bay  of  Biscay,"  and  traded  to  the 
British  coast  for  tin  from  the  Scilly  Isles  and  Cornwall. 
Tradition  tells  of  their  mariners  reaching  sunny  fertile 
shores  in  what  must  have  been  either  the  Canary  Islands 
or  the  Azores.  Under  the  patronage  of  Necho,  King  of 
Egypt,  Phoenician  sailors  went  round  Africa  from  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  Nile.  In  the  Eastern  seas,  they  had  estab- 
lishments on  the  Arabian  and  Persian  Gulfs,  from  which 
they  traded  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  to  Western 
India,  and  to  Ceylon.  By  far  the  most  renowned  of  all 
Phoenician  colonies — famous  in  poetry  for  Dido's  hopeless 
love  and  hapless  death,  in  history  for  Hannibal's  heroic 
hate  of  Rome  and  warlike  skill — was  Carthage,  in  the 
center  of  the  northern  coast  of  Africa.  The  date  of  her 
foundation  is  put  about  850  B.C.  At  Utica  and  Tunis, 
to  the  north  and  south,  Phoenician  settlements  were 
already  existing. 

The  trade  of  Tyre  and  her  sister-cities  reached  almost 
throughout  the  then  known  world.  They  exported  wares 
and  manufactures  of  their  own;  they  imported  and  re- 
exported  products  of  every  region  east  and  south  of  their 
own  land,  that  had  anything  of  value  for  the  markets  of 
nations  dwelling  round  the  great  central  sea.  Thus  to 
Phoenicia  came  the  spices — notably  myrrh  and  frankincense 
— of  Arabia ;  the  ivory,  ebony,  and  cotton  goods  of  India ; 
linen-yarn,  and  corn  from  Egypt;  wool  and  wine  from 
Damascus ;  embroideries  from  Babylon  and  Nineveh ;  pot- 
tery, in  the  days  of  Grecian  art,  from  Attica ;  horses  and 
chariots  from  Armenia;  copper  from  the  shores  of  the 
Euxine  Sea ;  lead  from  Spain ;  tin  from  Cornwall.  From 


THE  PHOENICIANS  67 

Phoenicia  went  to  foreign  ports,  not  only  these  articles  of 
food  and  use  and  luxury,  but  the  rich  purple  dyes  made 
from  the  murex  (a  kind  of  shell-fish)  of  her  coast,  the 
famous  hue  of  Tyre,  with  which  were  tinged  the  silken 
costly  robes  worn  by  the  despots  of  that  time.  From 
Sidon  went  the  not  less  famous  glass  produced  in  part  from 
fine  white  sand  found  near  the  headland  called  Mount  Car- 
mel.  So  great  and  so  important  was  the  trade  by  cara- 
vans through  Babylon  with  the  interior  of  Asia  that  the 
great  town  Palmyra  (or  "Tadmor  in  the  desert")  was 
founded  or  enlarged  by  Solomon  to  serve  the  traffic  on  its 
route  through  Syria  to  the  valley  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates.  With  lawful  trade  these  ancient  merchants, 
like  the  English  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  combined 
a  taste  for  piracy  and  for  indulgence  in  a  slave-trade  which 
included  the  kidnapping,  at  times,  of  Hebrew  victims  to 
the  lust  of  gold. 

As  a  money-making  race  the  Phoenicians  were  skilled 
in  arts  by  which  the  grand  aim  of  its  life  could  be  attained. 
Phoenician  drinking-cups  of  silver  and  of  gold,  and  Sidon's 
works  in  brass,  were  famous,  and  her  weavers  were  skilled 
in  making  cloth  of  flax  and  of  cotton,  grown  and  spun  in 
Egypt.  Great  as  they  were  at  the  dyeing-vat  and  loom, 
adepts  in  working  metals  and  in  fabricating  glass,  they 
were  also  the  best  shipbuilders,  and  the  most  famous 
miners  of  their  time.  Their  energy  and  enterprising  char- 
acter are  beyond  dispute,  but  much  has  been  ascribed  to 
their  invention,  in  the  sciences  and  arts,  which  they  re- 
ceived from  nations  further  East.  Their  greatest  service 
to  civilization  seems  rather  to  have  been  in  appropriating, 
developing,  and  spreading  the  ideas  of  others,  especially 
in  forming  an  alphabet  for  the  Western  world. 

Although  the  story  about  the  mythical  Cadmus  taking 
his  sixteen  letters  from  Phoenicia  into  Greece  must  be 


68        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

rejected,  the  European  world  owes  to  this  race  of  traders 
the  alphabetic  symbols  now  in  use.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  from  the  Phoenicians,  and  most  of  modern  Eu- 
rope from  the  Romans,  acquired  these  precious  and  indis- 
pensable rudiments  of  learning.  The  gradual  change  of 
shape  is  easily  traced  in  most  of  the  signs.  The  simple 
and  ingenious  device  by  which  each  sign  stands  for  one 
elementary  sound  of  human  speech  is  largely  due  to  the 
Phoenician  people,  as  an  improvement  on  the  cumbrous 
hieroglyphs  of  Egypt.  Of  literature  they  have  left  noth- 
ing whatever  recognized  by  scholars  as  really  theirs. 

In  morals,  they  had  a  name  for  craftiness  in  trade,  and 
wealth  led  to  worse  than  luxury — to  soft  licentiousness 
and  flagrant  vice.  Their  religion  was  a  kind  of  nature- 
worship,  which  adored  the  sun  and  moon  and  five  planets, 
the  chief  deities  being  the  male  Baal,  and  the  female  Ash- 
toreth,  or  Astarte.  The  worship  itself  was  a  sensual 
excess  and  revelry,  combined  with  cruelty.  Children  were 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  and  the  foulness  of  the  rites  is 
known  by  the  denunciations  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel.  At  Tyre  a  deity  was  worshipped  with 
the  attributes  of  the  Greek  god  Hercules.  The  worship 
of  Adonis,  under  the  name  of  Thammuz,  in  the  coast- 
towns,  included  a  commemoration  of  his  death,  a  funeral- 
festival,  at  which  women  gave  way  to  extravagant  lamen- 
tations. It  was  Phoenician  women,  fair  of  face,  that 
tempted  Solomon  the  wise  to  foul  idolatry ;  it  was  a  Prin- 
cess of  Phoenicia,  Jezebel,  that  brought  Ahab,  her  husband, 
King  of  Israel,  to  ruin,  that  slew  the  prophets  of  God,  and 
left  a  name  proverbial  for  infamy  in  life,  and  for  ignom- 
inious horror  in  her  death.  The  work  done  by  Phoenicia 
in  the  cause  of  human  progress  was  important  and  interest- 
ing in  material  things,  but  not,  with  one  great  exception, 
leading  to  intellectual  ends  or  moral  and  political  improve- 
ment. 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  69 

THE    MEDES   AND   THE   PERSIANS 

The  last  of  the  great  Oriental  empires  was  that  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians,  commonly  known  as  "the  Persian 
Empire,"  which  absorbed  all  the  territories  of  Western  and 
Southwestern  Asia  (except  Arabia),  as  well  as  Egypt 
and  a  small  portion  of  Europe.  The  Medes  and  the  Per- 
sians are  treated  of  together,  because  of  their  intimate  con- 
nection in  race  and  the  fact  that  Media  was  conquered  by 
and  included  in  Persia,  as  the  latter  empire  rose  into  power 
and  importance  in  the  Western  Asiatic  world.  Media 
occupied  the  table-land  south  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  east  of 
Armenia  and  the  Zagros  Mountains,  and  north  and  west 
of  the  mountains  of  Persia  Proper  and  the  great  rainless 
Persian  desert  or  desert  of  Iran.  The  mountain  ranges 
inclosed  fertile  valleys,  rich  in  corn  and  fruits,  and  the 
Zagros  Mountains  had  on  their  pastures  splendid  horses 
of  the  breed  famous  as  the  Nisaean,  which  supplied  the 
studs  of  the  King  and  nobles  of  Persia.  Persis,  or  Persia 
Proper,  was  a  mountainous  district  between  the  desert  of 
Iran  and  the  northeastern  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The 
country  contained,  amongst  its  hills,  fertile  plains  and 
valleys  abounding  in  corn,  pasture,  and  fruits. 

The  Medes  were  of  Aryan  race,  and,  like  the  Persians, 
called  themselves  "Aryans."  Their  close  connection,  in 
origin  and  institutions,  with  the  Persians  is  shown  in  the 
famous  expression,  "The  law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians, 
which  altereth  not."  The  people  began  to  migrate  into 
Media  at  an  early  period,  of  which  we  have  no  record, 
from  the  original  abode  of  the  Aryan  race.  By  degrees 
they  overcame  the  Scythian  races  whom  they  found  in 
possession  of  the  land.  The  Medes  were  a  warlike  race, 
strong  in  cavalry  and  archers.  Their  language  was  a 
dialect  of  the  Zend,  the  ancient  tongue  of  Persia,  and  their 


70       ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

religion  was  the  Magian,  which  involved  the  worship  of  a 
good  principle  or  deity  called  Ormuzd,  and  the  practice  of 
divination  of  his  will  by  dreams  and  omens.  The  Median 
tribes,  who  seem  to  have  been  in  part  subject  to  the  King 
of  Assyria,  began  toward  700  B.  C.  to  be  cemented  to- 
gether under  a  chief  named  Deioces,  who  chose  as  his 
capital  Ecbatana,  identified  with  the  modern  Hamadan. 
Under  his  son  Phraortes  their  power  grew  stronger,  and 
that  monarch  subdued  the  Persians,  but  perished  in  war 
with  the  Assyrians.  Cyaxares,  son  of  Phraortes,  renewed 
the  war  against  the  Assyrians.  Cyaxares  extended  the 
Median  Empire  westward,  by  conquest,  through  Armenia 
to  the  River  Halys  in  Asia  Minor.  His  great  achievement 
was  the  capture  of  Nineveh  about  B.C.  620,  in  alliance  with 
the  revolted  Babylonians,  and  the  consequent  overthrow 
of  the  Assyrian  empire.  Cyaxares  reigned  forty  years 
and  died  about  B.C.  593.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Astyages,  who  reigned  for  over  thirty  years,  and  seems 
to  have  been  a  despot  of  quiet  life  and  peaceful  disposition, 
enjoying  what  his  father  had  acquired.  Against  him  the 
Persians,  under  their  Prince  Cyrus,  revolted  about  558 
B.C.,  and,  being  joined  by  a  portion  of  the  Median  army 
under  a  chief  named  Harpagus,  they  took  Ecbatana  and 
deposed  the  Median  ruler.  From  this  time  the  two  na- 
tions were  spoken  of  as  one  people.  Ecbatana  became  the 
summer  residence  of  the  Persian  Kings.  After  the  death 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  324  B.C.,  the  northwest  portion 
( Atropatene)  of  Media  became  a  separate  kingdom,  which 
existed  until  the  time  of  Augustus. 

In  race,  language,  and  religion,  the  Persians  were 
closely  connected  with  the  Medes.  Of  their  early  migra- 
tion to  the  home  where  history  finds  them,  little  is  known. 
They  appear  first  in  human  records  as  hardy  and  warlike 
mountaineers,  noble  specimens  of  the  great  Aryan  race. 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  71 

They  were  simple  in  their  ways  of  life,  noted  for  truthful- 
ness, keen-witted,  generous,  and  quick-tempered.  The 
language  which  they  brought  with  them  when  they  mi- 
grated is  known  as  the  Zend,  closely  allied  to  the  Sanscrit, 
and  now  only  existing  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Zenda- 
vesta,  containing  the  doctrine  of  Zoroaster,  King  of  Bac- 
tria,  founder  of  the  Magian  religion  in  2115  B.C. 

The  peculiarity  of  Persia,  in  the  political  history  of 
Eastern  empires,  is  that  monarchy  appears  in  an  empire 
ruling  over  many  peoples  differing  widely  from  each  other. 
The  several  members  of  the  state  are  allowed  a  free 
growth,  and  we  find  roving  nomades  existing  in  one  part, 
whilst  in  other  territories  commerce  and  industrial  pur- 
suits are  in  full  vigor.  The  coasts  of  the  empire  are  in 
communication  with  foreign  lands,  and  the  Israelites, 
amidst  all  the  diversities  of  races  and  creeds,  are  allowed 
the  free  exercise  of  their  own  religion. 

Persia  was  an  empire  displaying  a  period  of  historical 
transition,  at  the  time  when  the  Persian  world  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  Greek.  The  Persian  could  conquer,  but 
could  not  fuse  into  one  harmonious  whole  the  diverse 
nationalities  that  fell  under  his  sway.  The  monarchy 
was  thus  a  loose  aggregate  of  peoples  spread  over  three 
different  geographical  regions,  the  highlands  of  Media 
and  Persia,  the  valley  plains  of  the  Euphrates,  Tigris,  and 
Nile,  and  the  maritime  districts  in  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and 
Asia  Minor.  In  developing  civilization  Persia's  mission 
was  that  of  bringing  to  an  end  the  barbarous  feuds  between 
the  nations  of  the  western  world  of  Asia.  With  a  settled 
dominion,  comfort,  and  happiness  were  diffused,  and  with 
the  growth  of  wealth,  culture,  and  luxury,  the  military 
prowess  of  ruder  times  declined.  Of  the  calm  courage 
of  well-ordered  civilization  the  Asiatics  had  little.  Effem- 
inacy relaxed  their  energies  as  opulence  grew,  and  sensual 


indulgence,  along  with  unwieldiness  and  want  of  organiza- 
tion in  such  elements  of  strength  as  they  possessed,  made 
them  succumb,  when  the  time  came,  to  the  superior  skill 
and  vitality  of  Greece.  The  Persians  were,  in  their  early 
history,  subject  to  the  Medes,  but  governed  by  their  own 
native  princes,  called  the  Achsemenidse,  who  began  to  reign 
as  semi-independent  rulers  about  B.  C.  700.  The  founder 
of  the  Persian  Empire  was  Cyrus,  who  began  his  career 
of  conquest  by  the  defeat  and  dethronement  of  Astyages, 
King  of  Media,  in  B.  C.  558.  The  Median  supremacy 
thus  passed  to  the  Persians. 

Master  of  Media,  Cyrus  came  next  into  collision  with 
the  great  kingdom  of  Lydia,  in  Asia  Minor.  With  its 
capital  at  Sardis,  and  extending  from  the  coast  of  the 
^gean  Sea  eastwards  to  the  River  Halys,  Lydia  was  one 
of  the  most  powerful  monarchies  of  the  second  class  in 
Asiatic  history.  The  Lydians  were  a  highly  civilized, 
wealthy,  and  energetic  people,  great  in  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, commerce,  and  the  arts.  In  music  and  metal- 
lurgy their  names  are  famous  as  inventors  or  improvers ; 
they  were  proverbial  in  the  ancient  world  for  luxury  and 
the  softer  vices  that  attend  it.  Croesus  was  King  of 
Lydia  when  Cyrus  met  his  attack  and  conquered  him  in 
B.  C.  546.  The  rising  Empire  of  Persia  was  thus  extended 
to  the  western  sea-board  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Greek 
colonies  on  the  coast  next  fell  a  prey  to  the  arms  of  Cyrus, 
and  in  B.C.  538  he  got  possession  of  Babylon,  and  added 
the  provinces  of  the  later  Babylonian  Empire  to  the  Per- 
sian. Before  this  he  had  conquered  the  territory  east- 
wards between  Media  and  the  Indus.  The  power  and  life 
alike  of  Cyrus  came  to  an  end  in  his  expedition  against  the 
Scythian  people,  called  the  Massagetse,  by  whom  he  was 
defeated  and  killed  in  B.C.  529.  Cyrus,  the  greatest  King 
among  all  the  Persian  monarchs,  had  spread  the  Persian 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  73 

sway  from  the  Hellespont  on  the  west  to  the  Indus  on  the 
east. 

Cyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses,  who 
reigned  from  B.C.  529-522,  and  is  distinguished  by  his 
conquest  of  Egypt  in  525.  According  to  the  common  ac- 
count he  was  guilty  of  ferocious  and  wanton  cruelty 
toward  the  Egyptians  and  his  own  family  and  subjects. 
He  stabbed  with  his  own  dagger  the  sacred  calf  Apis,  to 
the  horror  of  the  Egyptians;  murdered  his  own  brother 
Smerdis,  and  in  several  acts  displayed  something  like  in- 
sanity. Recent  researches,  however,  have  shown  that  the 
character  and  acts  of  Cambyses  have  been  greatly  misrep- 
resented ;  and  instead  of  outraging  the  religious  feelings 
of  the  Egyptians  he  was  himself  initiated  into  their 
religion  and  buried  the  sacred  calf  with  the  usual  honors. 
He  died  in  522,  on  his  march  from  Egypt  against  a  Magian 
pretender  to  the  throne,  who  declared  himself  to  be  the 
Smerdis  put  to  death  by  Cambyses.  The  usurper  reigned 
for  a  few  months,  and  was  then  dethroned  and  slain  in  an 
insurrection  headed  by  Darius  Hystaspis,  one  of  the  royal 
line  of  the  Achsemenidae. 

Darius  Hystaspis,  or  Darius  I,  who  reigned  from  B.  C. 
521  to  485,  finished  the  work  which  Cyrus  had  begun,  by 
setting  in  order  the  affairs  of  the  vast  Empire  which 
Cyrus  and  Cambyses  had  conquered.  The  whole  terri- 
tory was  divided  into  twenty  satrapies  or  governments, 
and  a  fixed  payment  was  the  contribution  of  each  province 
to  the  expenses  of  administration.  The  satrap,  or  gover- 
nor, represented  the  royal  authority,  and  was  charged  to 
remit  to  the  King  the  fixed  tribute  of  the  province  which 
he  ruled.  Justice  was  administered  by  independent 
officers,  called  Royal  Judges,  and  a  watch  was  kept  upon 
the  conduct  of  the  viceroys  (satraps)  by  officials  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  The  Governors,  however,  often 


74        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

oppressed  the  provinces  and  intrigued  against  each  other. 
The  "Great  King,"  as  the  Persian  monarch  was  called, 
was  held  to  be  the  lord  of  all  the  land  and  the  water.  Thus 
Darius  Hystaspis  and  Xerxes  demanded  "earth  and 
water,"  in  token  of  submission,  from  the  Greeks.  Tyran- 
nical Governors  were  extortionate  in  money-matters,  but 
there  was  a  general  tolerance  of  all  religious  faiths,  and  no 
systematic  or  outrageous  oppression. 

Darius  I  is  credited  with  the  establishment  of  high- 
roads and  swift  postal  communication  between  the  prov- 
inces and  the  court.  The  Kings  of  Persia  resided  in  the 
winter  at  Susa,  a  warm  place  in  the  plain  east  of  the  lower 
Tigris ;  in  the  summer  at  Ecbatana,  in  Media,  by  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  Babylon  was  a  third  capital  of  occasional  resi- 
dence in  winter.  From  these  different  centers  of  power 
the  Persian  monarchs  watched,  and,  according  to  their 
measure  of  energy  and  resolution,  controlled  the  conduct 
of  the  satraps  in  every  quarter  of  their  wide-spread 
dominions. 

About  B.  C.  508  Darius  invaded  Scythia,  and,  crossing 
the  Danube,  marched  far  into  the  territory  which  is  now 
European  Russia,  but  the  expedition  ended  in  a  retreat 
without  encountering  the  enemy,  and  with  great  loss  of 
men  from  famine.  On  his  return  his  generals  subdued 
Thrace  and  Macedonia,  north  of  Greece,  and  added  them 
to  the  Persian  Empire.  His  famous  war  with  the  Greeks 
arose  out  of  the  revolt  of  the  Ionian  Greek  cities  in  Asia 
Minor  in  501,  and  the  burning  of  the  city  of  Sardis  by 
their  Athenian  allies.  An  expedition  sent  against  Greece 
under  the  General  Mardonius  in  B.  C.  492  was  defeated 
by  the  Thracians  on  land,  and  frustrated  by  a  storm  in  the 
^gean  Sea.  In  490  a  great  armament  was  sent  by  Darius 
under  Datis  and  Artaphernes  and  then  was  fought  the 
decisive  battle  of  Marathon.  Darius'  proposed  and  long- 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  75 

prepared  revenge  upon  the  Greeks  was  baffled  by  a  rebel- 
lion in  Egypt,  and  he  died  in  485,  leaving  the  task  to  his 
son  and  successor,  Xerxes. 

Xerxes  reigned  from  B.  C.  485  to  465,  and  he  began 
with  the  suppression  of  the  Egyptian  revolt  in  484,  devot- 
ing the  next  four  years  to  preparations  against  Greece. 
The  grand  effort  was  made  in  480,  and  has  been  ever  fam- 
ous in  history  for  the  magnitude  of  the  host  of  men  and 
ships  employed,  for  the  insane  display  of  vanity  and 
pageantry  by  Xerxes,  for  the  heroism  of  the  resistance 
on  the  one  side  and  the  completeness  of  the  final  disaster  on 
the  other.  Xerxes  himself  returned  to  Sardis,  after  the 
destruction  of  his  fleet  at  Salamis,  toward  the  end  of  the 
year  480.  The  defeat  of  his  General  Mardonius  at  Plataea 
in  479  ended  the  war  in  Greece,  and  in  478  the  Persians 
lost  their  last  foothold  in  Europe  by  the  capture  of  Sestos 
on  the  Hellespont.  Of  Xerxes  little  more  is  known;  he 
was  assassinated  in  465,  and  left  behind  him  a  reputation 
that  is  proverbial  for  Oriental  vanity  and  the  total  failure 
of  prodigious  efforts. 

After  a  short  usurpation  by  Artabanus,  the  assassin  of 
Xerxes,  the  Persian  throne  was  filled  by  Xerxes'  son, 
Artaxerxes  I,  stirnamed  Longimanus,  who  reigned  B.  C. 
464-425.  The  only  notable  matters  in  his  reign  are  a 
revolt  in  Egypt,  in  which  the  Athenians  assisted  the 
Egyptians,  and  Athenian  defeats  of  the  Persians  by  land 
and  sea  in  and  off  Cyprus.  Darius  II,  surnamed  Nothus, 
son  of  Artaxerxes  I,  who  reigned  B.  C.  424-405,  was  a 
weak  personage,  who  was  subjected  to  constant  insurrec- 
tions by  his  satraps,  and  lost  Egypt  in  414.  His  son, 
Artaxerxes  II,  surnamed  Mnemon,  reigned  405-359. 
The  period  of  his  rule  was  eventful.  At  the  beginning 
occurred  the  revolt  of  his  younger  brother  Cyrus,  satrap 
in  Western  Asia,  who  marched  against  Babylon,  and  fell 


76        ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

in  the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  B.  C.  401.  He  was  supported  by 
a  body  of  Greek  mercenaries,  whose  retiring  march  to  the 
Black  Sea  over  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan  has  been 
immortalized  by  Xenophon's  description  in  his  Anabasis, 
and  is  known  as  the  "Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand 
Greeks."  After  many  conflicts  between  the  Persians  and 
Greeks,  the  peace  of  Antalcidas,  concluded  in  B.  C.  387, 
gave  to  the  Persians  all  the  Greek  cities  in  Asia  Minor. 
The  Persian  Empire,  however,  was  now  going  to  decay. 
Artaxerxes  failed  to  recover  revolted  Egypt,  and  was  con- 
stantly at  war  with  tributary  Princes  and  satraps.  The 
want  of  cohesion  in  the  unwieldy  ill-assorted  aggregate 
of  "peoples,  nations,  and  languages"  was  being  severely 
felt.  Artaxerxes  III,  son  of  the  former,  succeeded  in 
B.  C.  359,  and  reigned  till  338.  He  was  a  cruel  tyrant, 
who  did  nothing  himself  for  his  Empire;  but  Greek  troops 
and  generals  in  his  pay  reconquered  Egypt  and  other  lost 
territories. 

In  B.  C.  336  the  last  King  of  the  Persian  Empire, 
Darius  III,  surnamed  Codomannus,  succeeded  to  power. 
His  struggle  with  the  Greeks  is  given  in  the  notice  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  With  the  great  battle  in  the  plains 
of  Gaugamela,  in  Assyria,  known  as  the  battle  of  Arbela, 
from  a  town  fifty  miles  distant,  where  Darius  had  his  head- 
quarters before  the  struggle,  the  Persian  Empire  came  to 
an  end  in  October,  B.  C.  331.  The  defeat  of  Darius  was 
decisive;  and  in  330  he  was  murdered  in  Parthia  by  one 
of  his  satraps  named  Bessus.  Asiatic  Aryans  had  suc- 
cumbed at  last  to  their  kinsmen  of  Europe,  who,  after 
repelling  Oriental  assaults  upon  the  home  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion, had  carried  the  arms  of  avenging  ambition  into  Asia, 
and  struck  a  blow  to  the  heart  of  the  older  system  of  polity, 
culture  and  power. 

In  the  doctrine  of  Zoroaster,  pure  spirit  was  worshiped 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  77 

under  the  form  of  light.  There  was  no  adoration  of  indi- 
vidual natural  objects,  but  of  the  universe  itself.  Light 
is  the  form  of  the  good  and  the  true;  it  enables  man  to 
exercise  choice,  which  he  can  only  do  when  he  has  emerged 
from  darkness.  Light  involves  its  opposite — darkness, 
as  evil  is  opposite  to  good.  Among  the  Persians, 
Ormuzd  (called  also  Auramazda  and  Oromasdes)  and 
Ahriman  were  the  two  opposed  principles.  Ormuzd  was 
the  lord  of  the  kingdom  of  light,  or  good ;  Ahriman,  king 
of  the  realm  of  darkness,  or  evil.  Ormuzd  is  represented 
as  to  be  finally  conqueror  in  contest  with  Ahriman. 
Ormuzd,  as  lord  of  light,  created  all  in  the  world  that  is 
beautiful  and  noble,  the  world  being  a  kingdom  of  the 
sun.  He  is  the  excellent,  the  positive,  in  all  natural  and 
spiritual  existence.  Light  is  the  body,  or  essence,  of 
Ormuzd,  and  hence  came  the  worship  of  fire,  because 
Ormuzd  is  present  in  all  light ;  but  he  is  not  represented  as 
being  the  sun  or  moon  itself,  and  this  shows  the  spiritual- 
ity of  the  Persian  belief.  In  the  sun  or  moon  the  Persians 
worshipped  only  the  light,  which  is  Ormuzd.  He  was 
held  to  be  the  ground  and  center  of  all  good  existence — the 
highest  wisdom  and  knowledge — the  destroyer  of  the  ills 
of  the  world,  and  the  maintainer  of  the  universe.  On  the 
contrary,  the  body  of  Ahriman  is  darkness,  and  the  per- 
petual fire  was  burned  to  banish  him  from  the  temples. 
The  chief  end  of  every  man's  existence  was  held  to  be  to 
keep  himself  pure,  and  to  spread  this  purity  around  him. 
The  sacrifices  offered  were  the  flesh  of  clean  animals,  flow- 
ers, fruits,  milk,  perfumes.  Such  was  the  interesting  and 
spiritual  form  of  belief  held  by  the  best  of  the  ancient 
Persians  who  extended  their  sway  over  so  many  nations 
of  divers  faiths  and  degrees  of  civilization.  The  popular 
creed  throughout  the  Empire  appears  to  have  been  the 


78        ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

religious  system  of  the  Magians,  referred  to  in  the  account 
of  the  Medes.  The  priests,  or  Magi,  had  great  power, 
from  the  reverence  of  the  people  for  them.  The  great 
objects  of  worship  were  the  heavenly  bodies.  This 
national  priesthood,  like  the  Chaldaeans  in  the  Babylonian 
Empire,  formed  a  caste  to  whom  belonged  all  mental  cul- 
ture, and  all  knowledge  of  art,  science  and  legislation. 
The  modern  term  of  reproach  "magic,"  in  its  superstitious 
sense,  is  connected  with  their  professions  of  divination  and 
pretence  at  acquirement  of  hidden  knowledge  by  the  rais- 
ing of  the  dead  and  by  juggling  with  cups  and  water. 

In  science,  art  and  learning  the  Persians  developed  lit- 
tle or  nothing  that  was  new,  except  in  architecture.  In 
the  conquest  of  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Phoenicians, 
and  Egyptians,  the  Persian  King  and  nobles  came  into  pos- 
session alike  of  the  scientific  acquirements  and  learning  of 
those  peoples,  and  of  the  products  of  the  mechanical  arts 
which  are  concerned  in  the  luxuries  and  comforts  of  life. 
The  Persians  were  soldiers,  and  not  craftsmen,  and  had  no 
need  to  be  producers,  when  they  could  be  purchasers,  of 
the  carpets  and  muslins  of  Babylon  and  Sardis,  the  fine 
linen  of  Egypt,  and  the  rich  variety  of  wares  that  Phoeni- 
cian commerce  spread  throughout  the  Empire.  In  archi- 
tecture they  were  at  first  pupils  of  the  Assyrians  and  Baby- 
lonians. The  splendid  palaces  and  temples  of  Nineveh  and 
Babylon  had  existed  for  centuries  before  the  Persians  were 
anything  more  than  a  hardy  tribe  of  warriors,  and  it  was 
only  after  the  acquirement  of  Imperial  sway  that  they 
began  to  erect  great  and  elegant  buildings  for  themselves. 
When  that  time  came,  the  Persians  showed  that  they  could 
produce,  by  adaptation  of  older  models,  an  architectural 
style  of  their  own.  This  style  was  one  that  comes  between 
the  sombre,  massive  grandeur  of  Assyrian  and  Egyptian 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  79 

edifices  and  the  perfect  symmetry  and  beauty  of  the 
achievements  of  Greek  art.  Palaces  and  tombs,  not  tem- 
ples, were  the  masterpieces  of  Persian  building,  as  the  out- 
door worship  of  the  sun,  or  of  the  sacred  fire  kindled  on 
some  lofty  spot,  required  no  gorgeous  "temples  made  with 
hands"  for  the  indwelling  of  the  God  who  was  adored 
either  in  spirit  or  in  the  luminous  manifestations  of  his 
power  in  the  heavens  above.  The  ruins  of  the  city  of 
Persepolis,  in  the  province  of  Persia,  are  the  most  famous 
remains  of  Persian  architecture.  Here,  on  a  terraced  plat- 
form, stood  vast  and  splendid  palaces,  "with  noble  portals 
and  sweeping  staircases,  elegant  fretted  work  for  decora- 
tion, rows  of  massive  pillars,  and  sumptuous  halls."  The 
doorways  are  adorned  with  beautiful  bas-reliefs,  and  the 
great  double  staircase  leading  up  to  the  "Palace  of  Forty 
Pillars"  is  especially  rich  in  sculptured  human  figures. 
The  columns  are  beautiful  in  form,  sixty  feet  in  total 
height,  with  the  shaft  finely  fluted,  and  the  pedestal  in  the 
form  of  the  cup  and  leaves  of  a  pendent  lotus.  Through- 
out the  ruins  a  love  of  ornament  and  display  is  visible. 
In  the  bas-reliefs  are  profuse  decorations  of  fretwork 
fringes,  borders  of  sculptured  bulls  and  lions,  and  stone- 
work of  carved  roses.  The  ruins,  as  a  whole,  present  a 
complicated  spectacle  of  fallen  magnificence. 

Ecbatana,  formerly  the  capital  of  the  Median  Empire, 
called  Achmetha  in  the  book  of  Ezra,  and  supposed  to  be 
the  modern  Hamadon,  was  a  very  ancient  city,  surrounded 
by  seven  walls,  each  overtopping  the  one  outside  it,  and 
surmounted  by  battlements  painted  in  five  different  colors, 
the  innermost  two  being  overlaid  with  silver  and  with 
gold.  The  strong  citadel  inside  all  was  used  as  the  royal 
treasury.  Susa,  called  Shushan  by  the  Hebrew  writers 
Daniel  and  Nehemiah,  was  a  square-built  city  unprotected 


So       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

by  walls,  but  having  a  strongly  fortified  citadel,  containing 
a  royal  palace  and  treasury.  The  only  remains  of  the 
place  are  extensive  mounds,  on  which  are  found  fragments 
of  bricks  and  broken  pottery  with  cuneiform  inscriptions. 
Persepolis  was  one  of  the  two  burial-places  of  the  Persian 
Kings,  and  also  a  royal  treasury.  Darius  I  and  Xerxes 
greatly  enlarged  and  adorned  the  place,  and  it  retained 
its  splendor  till  it  was  partially  burned  by  Alexander  the 
Great.  Pasargada,  the  other  royal  place  of  burial,  its 
site  having  still  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  and  a  colossal  bas-relief 
sculpture  of  the  great  founder  of  the  monarchy,  was  either 
southeast  or  northeast  of  Persepolis,  the  tomb  of  Cyrus 
appearing  to  settle  the  site  as  at  Murghab,  in  the  north- 
eastern position.  Sardis,  in  western  Asia  Minor,  once 
the  capital  of  the  Lydian  monarchy,  was  the  residence  of 
the  satrap  of  Lydia,  and  often  occurs  in  history  in  con- 
nection with  the  presence  of  the  Persian  Kings.  It  had 
an  almost  impregnable  citadel  placed  on  a  lofty  precipitous 
rock. 

Of  ancient  Persian  literature  there  are  scarcely  any 
remains  except  the  sacred  books  in  the  collection  called  the 
Zendavesta.  The  splendor  of  Persian  life  at  court  and 
abroad  is  known  to  us  from  many  sources.  The  sculptures 
of  Persepolis  show  something  of  the  state  and  ceremony 
attendant  on  a  Persian  King.  In  the  book  of  Esther  we 
read  of  King  Ahasuerus  (who  is  identified  as  Xerxes) 
entertaining  all  "the  nobles  and  Princes  of  the  provinces" 
for  "a  hundred  and  fourscore  days,"  of  his  making  a  feast 
for  seven  days  "in  the  court  of  the  garden  of  the  King's 
palace"  for  all  the  people  of  Susa ;  of  pillars  of  marble,  sil- 
ver curtain-rings,  beds  of  gold  and  silver,  pavements  of 
marble  that  was  red,  and  blue,  and  white,  and  black;  of 
drink  in  vessels  of  gold  diverse  in  shape  and  size,  and 


THE  MEDES  AND  PERSIANS  81 

"royal  wine  in  abundance,  according  to  the  state  of  the 
King ;"  of  garments  of  purple  and  fine  linen ;  and  of  the 
absolute  power  of  a  Persian  despot  in  his  caprices  and  his 
wrath,  with  his  "seven  chamberlains  that  served  in  his 
presence,"  and  with  the  lives  of  men  and  women  of  all 
ranks  held  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand. 

Voi,.  i  —  6 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE 

The  part  played  by  Greece  in  the  great  drama  of  Uni- 
versal History  makes  her  a  connecting  link  between  East 
and  West,  the  Asiatic  and  the  European,  the  enslaved  and 
the  free.  Grecian  history  is  one  of  the  greatest  phases  of 
the  question  between  East  and  West,  alive  in  the  politics  of 
the  present  day,  when  the  recovery  of  Constantinople  for 
Europe  is  a  great  matter  for  European  diplomacy. 

A  review  of  Greek  history  from  the  earliest  times, 
including  a  period  legendary  in  detail,  but  having  a  basis 
of  fact,  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  place  of  Greece  in 
history,  and  the  vital  connection  existing  between  the 
ancient  and  modern  worlds.  The  story  of  the  war  of 
Troy,  embellished  by  poetry  with  marvels,  is  a  legendary 
version  of  some  part  of  the  contest  between  East  and  West. 
After  this  comes  the  colonial  period,  when  the  Greek  makes 
inroads  on  the  commercial  dominion  of  Phoenicia  and  a 
part  of  Asia  practically  becomes  Europe  by  the  settling  of 
Greek  cities  on  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor.  Then  the 
powers  of  the  East,  embattled  by  Persia,  advance  in  their 
turn.  Asiatic  Greece  is  conquered,  European  Greece  is 
threatened,  and  at  last  has  to  fight  for  life  on  her  own 
soil.  By  sea  and  by  land  Greece  is  triumphant,  and  the 
future  of  cilivilization  is  settled.  Whatever  the  fate  of 
Europe  is  to  be  she  is  not  to  be  handed  over  to  the  grasp 
of  Oriental  despotism,  but  is  to  be  left  to  struggle  forward 
in  a  career  uninfluenced  by  Eastern  control.  Then  Greece, 
after  reaching  the  highest  point  of  culture  in  art  and  litera- 
ture, is  weakened  by  internal  dissensions,  and  loses  ground 
both  in  East  and  West.  Her  old  foe,  Persia,  regains  some 

fa 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  83 

of  her  former  power  on  the  seaboard  of  Asia  Minor;  in 
the  West,  Greek  dominion  is  lessened  by  the  rising  power 
of  Carthage  and  Rome,  and  the  last  effort  of  Greece  for 
political  dominion  there  fails  when  the  phalanx  of  Pyrrhus 
succumbs  to  the  Roman  legion.  Then  the  Macedonian 
King,  Alexander  the  Great,  reconquers  the  East  and 
spreads  Greek  culture  and  an  artificial  Greek  nationality 
over  a  large  part  of  the  world.  Into  this  new  Greek  world 
Rome  forces  her  way,  and  at  once  secures  political  suprem- 
acy. Rome,  however,  never  supplants  the  tongue  and  cul- 
ture of  Greece,  but  largely  accepts  them  herself  until  much 
of  her  own  power  is  transferred  to  a  Greek  city,  Constanti- 
nople. Hence,  at  the  revival  of  learning,  the  products  of 
the  old  Greek  mind  come  forth  to  transform  the  Western 
world. 

The  interest  of  the  great  story  of  ancient  Greece  is 
really  inexhaustible.  It  has  been  well  said  that  "of  all 
histories  of  which  we  know  so  much,  this  is  the  most 
abounding  in  consequences  to  us  who  now  live.  The  true 
ancestors  of  the  European  nations  are  not  those  from 
whose  blood  they  are  sprung,  but  those  from  whom  they 
derive  the  richest  portion  of  their  inheritance.  The  battle 
of  Marathon,  even  as  an  event  in  English  history,  is  more 
important  than  the  battle  of  Hastings.  If  the  issue  of  that 
day  had  been  different,  the  Britons  and  the  Saxons  might 
still  have  been  wandering  in  the  woods.  The  Greeks  are 
also  the  most  remarkable  people  who  have  yet  existed." 
This  high  claim  is  justly  made  on  the  grounds  of  the  power 
and  efforts  that  were  required  for  them  to  achieve  what 
they  did  for  themselves  and  for  mankind.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  Christianity,  they  were  the  beginners  of  nearly 
everything  of  which  the  modern  world  can  boast.  By 
their  own  unaided  exertions  they,  alone  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  emerged  from  barbarism.  It  was  they  who 


84       ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

originated  political  freedom  and  first  produced  an  histori- 
cal literature,  and  that  a  perfect  one  of  its  kind.  The  same 
wonderful  race  rose  to  the  height  of  excellence  in  oratory, 
poetry,  sculpture,  architecture.  They  were  the  founders 
of  mathematics,  of  physical  science,  of  true  political 
science,  of  the  philosophy  of  human  nature  and  life.  In 
each  of  these  departments  of  skilled  and  systematic 
acquirement  they  made  for  themselves  those  first  steps  on 
which  all  the  rest  depend.  Freedom  of  thought  they  be- 
stowed on  the  world,  a  heritage  for  all  ages  to  come. 
Unfettered  by  pedantries  or  superstitions,  they  looked  the 
universe  in  the  face,  and  questioned  nature  in  that  free, 
bold  spirit  of  speculation  which  has  worked  with  so  power- 
ful an  effect  in  modern  Europe.  All  these  things  the 
Greeks  achieved  in  two  centuries  of  national  existence,  and 
the  twenty  Centuries  that  have  passed  away  since  the 
Greeks  were  the  most  gifted  of  the  nations  of  the  world 
have  added  little,  in  comparison,  to  human  attainments  and 
human  development  on  the  intellectual  side  of  our  nature. 
Such,  in  its  extreme  form,  is  the  claim  advanced  for  the 
Greeks  of  old.  What  is  certain  is,  that,  even  if  they 
received  the  rudiments  of  art  and  literature,  and  the  germs 
of  political  and  social  organization,  from  Eastern  nations 
— from  Asia  Minor,  Egypt  and  Phoenicia — they  impressed 
a  new  and  original  character  on  that  which  they  received. 
The  Greeks  would  not  endure  absolute  monarchy; 
from  constitutional  Kings  they  passed  to  republican  insti- 
tutions in  an  infinite  variety  of  forms  as  compounded  in 
various  degrees  of  democratic  or  oligarchic  elements.  In 
literature  and  science  the  Greek  intellect  followed  no  beaten 
track,  and  acknowledged  no  limitary  rules.  The  Greeks 
thought  their  subjects  boldly  out,  and  the  novelty  of  a 
speculation  invested  it  in  their  minds  with  interest,  and 
not  with  criminality.  Versatile,  restless,  enterprising,  and 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  85 

self-confident,  they  presented  the  most  striking  contrast  to 
the  habitual  quietude  and  submissiveness  of  the  Orientals. 
Such  was  the  people  whose  history  we  are  now  to  deal  with 
in  a  rapid  summary  of  their  rise,  their  fortunes,  their 
institutions,  and  their  political  decline  and  fall.  We  pass 
from  the  Oriental  history  of  dynasties  and  barren  conquests 
to  the  history  of  a  free  nation  exercising,  through  her  intel- 
lectual triumphs,  an  enduring  dominion  over  Europe  and 
the  \vhole  civilized  world. 

The  Greeks  belonged  to  the  great  Aryan  branch  of  the 
Caucasian  race — to  the  stock  that  includes  all  the  historic 
nations  of  Europe,  the  Latins,  Teutons  or  Germans,  Celts, 
and  Slavonians,  as  well  as  the  Persians  and  Hindoos  of 
Asia.  The  Aryan  migration  from  Asia  into  Europe, 
brought  the  forefathers  of  the  Greeks  into  the  farthest  east 
of  the  three  Mediterranean  peninsulas.  It  is  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  this  peninsula,  in  the  Peloponnesus,  called  in 
modern  geography  the  Morea,  and  in  the  territory  immedi- 
ately north  of  the  Peloponnesus,  that  we  are  to  look,  in 
ancient  history,  for  the  people  who  were  strictly  and  truly 
Greeks,  apart  from  the  colonies  which  were  settled  on  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the  east  and  central 
Mediterranean,  and  of  the  neighboring  seas,  the  Propontis 
(Sea  of  Marmora),  and  the  Euxine  (now  Black)  Sea. 
The  name  Greece  was  almost  unknown  by  the  people  whom 
we  call  Greeks,  and  was  never  used  by  them  for  their  own 
country.  It  has  come  to  us  from  the  Romans,  being  really 
the  name  of  a  tribe  in  Epirus,  northwest  of  Greece,  the  part 
of  the  country  first  known  to  them.  The  Greek  writers 
and  people  called  their  land  Hellas,  the  term  meaning, 
however,  all  territory  in  which  their  own  people,  whom 
they  called  Hellenes,  were  settled.  Hellas,  therefore, 
included  not  only  the  Greek  peninsula,  but  many  of  the 
islands  of  the  uEgean  Sea,  and  the  coast  settlement  and 


86       ANCIENT  AND  MH.DLEVAL  HISTORY 

colonies  above  referred  to.  Hellas  was  originally  the 
name  of  a  district  in  Thessaly,  in  northern  Greece,  the 
people  of  which  gradually  spread  over  the  neighboring  ter- 
ritory, and  the  name  was  in  time  adopted  by  the  other 
tribes. 

Greece  consisted,  geographically,  of  many  islands,  and 
of  a  peninsula  much  indented  by  bays.  It  was  thus  broken 
up  into  many  small  divisions,  connected  by  the  sea.  There 
were  numerous  mountains  in  ridges,  off-shoots,  and 
groups;  there  were  plains,  valleys,  and  small  rivers.  All 
was  diversified ;  there  was  no  great  feature.  The  position 
and  conformation  of  the  country  undoubtedly  helped  to 
render  the  Greeks  the  earliest  civilized  people  in  Europe, 
both  by  developing,  in  a  life  of  struggle  with  nature  on 
land  and  sea,  their  special  and  innate  character,  and  by 
bringing  them  into  contact  with  the  older  civilizations,  in 
Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. The  mountains  that  divided  the  country  into 
small  isolated  districts  had  a  great  political  importance  in 
giving  rise  to  many  separate  and  independent  states,  the 
rivalries  and  conflicts  of  which  favored  the  working  out  of 
political  problems  and  the  growth  of  political  freedom. 
Greece  naturally  divides  itself  into  Northern,  Central  and 
Southern.  Northern  Greece  extends  from  the  northern 
boundary  line  in  about  40  degrees  north  latitude  to  a  line 
drawn  from  the  Ambracian  Gulf  on  the  west  to  Ther- 
mopylae on  the  east.  Central  Greece  stretches  from  this 
point  to  the  isthmus  of  Corinth.  Southern  Greece  in- 
cludes the  Peloponnesus  and  adjacent  islands.  Northern 
Greece  contained  two  principal  countries,  Thessalia  and 
Epirus,  though  the  Greeks  themselves  did  not  regard  the 
inhabitants  of  Epirus  as  being  of  real  Hellenic  race.  It 
was  only  in  later  times  that  Macedonia,  north  of  Thessalia, 
was  considered  a  part  of  Hellas.  Central  Greece  had  nine 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  87 

separate  states — Acarnania,  yEtolia,  Doris,  Eastern 
Locris,  Western  Locris,  Phocis,  Boeotia,  Attica  and  Meg- 
aris.  The  most  important  of  these  was  Attica,  the  penin- 
sula jutting  out  southeastward  from  Bceotia,  and  re- 
nowned for  evermore  through  its  possession  of  the  city  of 
Athens.  Southern  Greece,  or  the  Peloponnesus,  meaning 
"island  of  Pelops,"  a  mythical  King  of  Pisa,  in  Elis,  con- 
tained seven  principal  states — Corinth,  Achaia,  Elis,  Arca- 
dia, Messenia,  Argolis,  and  Laconia.  Of  these  the  most 
important  was  Laconia,  equally  famous  as  Attica  for 
Athens  in  containing  the  city  of  Sparta,  capital  of  the  state 
called  Lacedaemon,  forming  the  southern  part  of  Laconia. 
Islands  formed  a  considerable  and  famous  part  of  ancient 
Hellas.  The  largest  of  the  islands  on  the  coast  was 
Eubcea,  about  ninety  miles  in  length,  noted  for  good  pas- 
turage and  corn.  On  the  west  coast  was  the  group  known 
to  modern  geography  as  "the  Ionian  Isles."  To  the  south 
lay  Crete,  160  miles  in  length,  noted  for  the  skill  of  its 
archers.  In  the  ^Egean  Sea  were  the  two  groups  called 
the  Cyclades  and  Sporades.  The  Cyclades,  or  "circling 
isles,"  as  lying  round  the  chief  one,  Delos,  are  clearly 
shown  upon  the  map.  The  Sporades,  or  "scattered  isles," 
lay  to  the  east,  off  the  southwest  coast  of  Asia  Minor, 
northward  in  the  JEgean,  in  mid-sea,  or  on  the  Asiatic 
coast,  were  Lemnos,  Scyros,  Lesbos,  Chios,  and  Samos. 

Of  the  date  when  the  Aryan  tribes  first  made  their  way 
into  the  Greek  peninsula  and  islands  we  know  nothing, 
from  the  lack  of  records.  As  a  prehistoric  people  in  that 
region,  we  hear  of  the  Pelasgi,  akin  to  the  Greeks  in  lan- 
guage and  in  race,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  and  said  to  have 
known  agriculture  and  other  useful  arts.  The  Aryans, 
before  they  set  out  on  their  migrations  into  Europe  from 
their  primeval  home  in  Asia,  possessed  a  certain  degree 
of  culture,  and  the  Pelasgi,  being  Aryans,  would  have  car- 


88       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY     •  . 

ried  those  acquirements  with  them  to  their  new  abodes. 
The  Pelasgians  formed  the  basis  of  the  older  population 
both  in  Italy  and  Greece,  according  to  the  evidence  of  lan- 
guage and  the  researches  of  scholars.  The  so-called 
Pelasgic,  or  Cyclopean,  remains  at  Mycenae  and  at  Tiryns, 
both  in  Argolis,  consisting  of  huge  rude  masses  of  stone, 
piled  on  each  other  in  tiers,  without  cement,  resemble  the 
Stonehenge  in  the  mystery  existing  as  to  their  real  author- 
ship and  age.  As  with  the  Pelasgi,  so  with  the  Hellenes 
— of  the  date  when,  and  means  by  which,  they  became  pre- 
dominant in  the  land  which  they  called  Hellas,  we  know 
nothing.  The  safest  conjecture  is  that  the  Hellenes  were 
the  flower  for  enterprise,  ability,  and  courage,  of  some 
section  of  the  Aryan  immigrants  into  Europe,  just  as  the 
Normans  were  the  choicest  specimens  of  Scandinavian 
tribes  in  mediaeval  Europe.  These  superior  qualities  gave 
the  Hellenes  possession,  at  an  early  date,  of  the  territory 
in  which  they  found  established  the  Pelasgians,  really  akin 
in  blood  and  language  to  themselves,  but  men  whom  the 
Hellenes,  innocent  of  ethnology  and  comparative  phil- 
ology, called  "barbarians,"  or  men  of  different  language  to 
themselves.  It  is  certain  that,  as  far  back  as  tyistory  or 
even  legend  can  carry  us,  we  find  the  land  of  Greece  in  the 
occupation  of  a  branch  of  the  Aryan  family,  consisting, 
like  all  other  nations,  of  various  kindred  tribes. 

Of  these  Hellenes,  then,  who  occupied  the  land,  and 
made  it  famous  for  all  time,  there  were  four  chief  divi- 
sions, the  Dorians,  ^Eolians,  Achaeans  and  lonians.  At  a 
date  probably  as  early  as  1200  B.  C,  the  Dorians  are  found 
in  the  northern  part  of  Central  Greece,  in  and  about  Doris, 
on  the  southern  slope  of  Mount  CEta ;  the  ^olians  mainly 
in  Thessalia;  the  Achaeans  in  the  west,  south  and  east  of 
Peloponnesus,  where  the  Arcadians,  probably  descendants 
of  the  Pelasgi,  occupied  the  center  of  the  territory;  and  the 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  89 

lonians  in  the  northeastern  Peloponnesus  and  in  Attica. 
The  Dolopes,  ^Enianes,  Magnetes,  Dryopes  and  Danai, 
are  the  names  of  tribes,  Pelasgic  and  otherwise  in  origin, 
occupying  parts  of  the  territory  of  Greece  at  the  same  early 
date. 

•  We  are  dealing  with  history,  not  legend,  and  therefore 
with  the  mythical  exploits  of  the  so-called  Heroic  Age  we 
have  nothing  to  do,  except  so  far  as  those  legends  may  be 
considered  to  embody  a  real  kernel  of  historical  truth. 
We  have  space  here  to  allude  only  to  two,  and  those  the 
most  famous,  of  these  legends — the  Argonautic  Expedi- 
tion and  the  Siege  of  Troy.  The  Argonauts  are  repre- 
sented as  a  body  of  heroes  who  went  in  a  ship  called  the 
Argo,  under  the  command  of  a  prince  named  Jason,  to 
fetch  from  Colchis,  a  district  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
Pontus  Euxinus,  a  golden  fleece  hung  on  an  oak  tree  in 
the  grove  of  Ares,  Greek  god  of  war,  and  guarded  there 
by  a  dragon.  After  many  adventures,  losses  and  dangers, 
the  fleece  was  carried  off.  The  kernel  of  truth  here  is 
that  in  very  early  times  navigators  went  to  the  coasts  of 
the  Euxine  and  there  made  money  by  trade  with  wild 
inhospitable  tribes. 

The  Siege  of  Troy  or  Trojan  War  is  known  to  all  the 
civilized  world  from  Homer's  poem  called  the  Iliad. 
Paris,  the  son  of  Priam,  King  of  Troy,  is  represented  as 
having  carried  off  from  Greece,  Helen,  the  wife  of  his 
entertainer,  Menelaus,  King  of  Lacedseman.  Helen  was 
the  loveliest  woman  of  her  time,  and  all  the  Grecian  princes 
took  up  arms  and  sailed  for  Troy,  under  command  of  Aga- 
memnon, King  of  Mycenae,  in  Argolis.  The  greatest  hero 
on  the  Greek  side  was  Achilles,  on  the  Trojan,  Hector. 
After  a  ten-years'  siege  and  much  slaughter  Troy  is  taken 
by  a  stratagem  and  burned,  and  the  remaining  princes  and 
their  peoples  return  to  Greece.  The  Iliad  deals  only  with 


90       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  events  of  the  last  year  of  the  war,  "the  wrath  of 
Achilles"  and  its  results,  when  Achilles,  offended  by  Aga- 
memnon, for  a  long  time  refuses  to  fight,  and  leaves  the 
Greeks  a  prey  to  the  prowess  of  Hector.  When  Patroclus, 
a  friend  of  Achilles,  is  slain  by  the  Trojan  hero,  the  Greek 
warrior  takes  up  his  spear  again,  slays  Hector,  and  the 
story  ends,  in  Homer's  poem,  with  the  delivery  of  his  body 
to  the  sorrowing  father,  Priam.  How  much  of  this  is 
fact  and  how  much  fiction  is  not  known.  The  matter  long 
has  been,  and  it  remains,  a  battleground  of  angry  and 
bewildered  critics.  The  truth  contained  in  the  Homeric 
poems,  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  is  this,  that  they  give 
a  real  and  valuable  picture  of  the  state  of  civilization  in 
the  Grecian  world  at  the  time  when  the  poems  were  writ- 
ten or  otherwise  composed  and  preserved,  which  we  may 
take  to  be  about  1000  years  B.  C. 

The  form  of  government  was  that  of  a  hereditary 
King,  acting  as  priest,  general,  judge,  and  president  of  the 
popular  assembly,  supported  and  guided  by  a  council  of 
elders.  The  tribe  or  nation  appears  as  more  important 
than  the  city,  which,  in  historical  Greece,  is  found  to  be 
itself  the  state.  We  find  existing  a  landed  aristocracy,  an 
elementary  middle  class  of  bards,  priests,  prophets,  sur- 
geons, and  skilled  artisans,  a  class  of  hired  workmen,  and 
another  class  of  mildly-treated  slaves.  A  state  of  warfare 
was  almost  constant  between  some  two  or  more  of  the  vari- 
ous tribes,  and  military  prowess  was  the  virtue  most 
esteemed.  There  was  no  polygamy,  and  woman,  and 
especially  the  wife,  was  held  in  high  regard.  Care  for  the 
young  and  reverence  for  the  old  were  practiced.  A  gen- 
eral sobriety  in  drink  and  bodily  indulgence,  and  a  chival- 
rous feeling  of  respect  for  self  and  others,  are  found  to 
exist.  The  belief  in  various  deities,  whose  attributes  were 
those  of  a  glorified  humanity,  and  in  fatalism,  was  strong. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  91 

Sacrifices  of  slaughtered  animals,  and  of  outpoured  wine, 
were  offered  to  the  gods. 

The  artistic  works  described  were  not  of  Grecian  exe- 
cution, but  Phoenician  chiefly.  Men's  chief  occupations 
in  the  Homeric  times  were  in  agriculture,  as  ploughmen, 
sowers,  and  reapers;  and  in  pastoral  life,  as  cowherds, 
shepherds,  swineherds,  and  goatherds.  There  were 
wagons  drawn  by  mules,  and  chariots  drawn  by  horses,  as 
appliances  of  war.  The  weapons,  defensive  and  offensive, 
were  the  shield,  the  helmet,  the  breastplate,  and  greaves,  or 
metal  leggings,  from  the  knee  to  the  ankle;  the  sword,  the 
spear,  the  javelin,  ax,  and  huge  stones  hurled  by  mighty 
arms  at  the  oncoming  foe.  We  read  of  coppersmiths, 
carpenters,  and  shipbuilders;  eating  of  beef  and  mutton, 
bread  and  cheese;  of  spinning  and  weaving  of  flax  and 
wool  for  clothing,  carpets,  coverlets,  and  rugs.  Such  is 
the  state  of  things  represented  to  us  in  the  poems  which 
enshrine  the  legend  of  the  tale  of  Troy — that  legend  which, 
"set  forth  in  the  full  blaze  of  epic  poetry,  exercised  a 
powerful  and  imperishable  influence  over  the  Hellenic 
mind." 

There  is  another  class  of  legends  concerning  the 
earlier  times  of  Greece,  in  which  we  find  asserted  the  recep- 
tion by  the  Greeks  of  foreign  immigration  from  Egypt 
and  Phoenicia.  The  element  of  truth  contained  in  these 
traditions  is  that  early  Greece  did  receive  something  from 
Egypt,  and  much,  perhaps,  from  the  Phoenicians,  when 
Greeks  began  to  spread  themselves  over  the  isles  and  coasts 
to  east  and  south  and  west  of  their  own  land,  and  thus  came 
into  contact  with  those  great  traders,  the  Phoenicians,  who 
preceded  Greece  in  spreading  culture  and  commerce  on  the 
coasts  of  the  great  inland  sea.  What  rudiments  of  art,  or 
science,  or  religion  Greece  may  have  got  from  Egypt  is 
matter  of  conjecture  only;  certain  it  is  that  Greece  owed 


92       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

infinitely  more  to  native  genius  than  to  any  outward 
sources  of  civilization. 

Grecian  history  may  be  divided  into  four  periods. 
From  the  Dorian  migration  to  the  First  Olympiad,  the 
beginning  of  the  authentic  history  of  Greece,  B.  C.  1 104- 
776. 

From  B.  C.  776  to  the  beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars, 
B.  C.  500. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars  to  the  sub- 
jugation of  Greece  by  Philip  of  Macedon,  B.  C.  500-338. 

From  the  subjugation  of  Greece  by  Philip  of  Macedon 
to  the  Roman  conquest,  B.  C.  338-146. 

THE   GREEK    CITY-STATES 

Leaving  the  dim  twilight  of  legendary  Greece,  we  come 
to  a  period  when  there  took  place  those  movements  of 
tribes  that  resulted  in  settling  the  Hellenes  in  those  parts 
of  Hellas  in  which  we  find  them  during  the  times  of 
authentic  history.  The  chief  of  these  movements  was  that 
known  as  the  Dorian  Migration  or  Return  of  the  Hera- 
clidae,  this  latter  name  following  the  legend  that  the  de- 
scendants of  the  demigod  Heracles  (Hercules),  called 
Heraclidae,  after  being  driven  from  the  Peloponnesus,  re- 
turned thither  in  alliance  with  the  Dorians.  The  event 
thus  referred  to  is  really  the  Conquest  of  the  Peloponnesus 
by  the  Dorians,  and  the  date  assigned  to  it  is  B.  C.  1 104,  ' 
about  eighty  years  after  the  supposed  date  of  the  legend?  ry 
Trojan  War.  The  germ  of  historical  truth  in  the  mat-  j 
ter  is  that,  about  B.  C.  uoo,  the  Dorians,  under  various  ; 
leaders,  made  their  way  from  their  abodes  in  Central 
Greece  into  the  Peloponnesus,  and  conquered  the  greater 
part  of  the  peninsula  after  a  long  and  severe  contest  with 
the  Achseans  and  others  who  were  established  there.  All 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  93 

Peloponnesus,  except  Arcadia  and  the  part  called  after- 
ward Achaia,  became  Dorian,  including  the  Kingdoms  of 
Sparta,  Argos,  and  Messenia,  Elis  being  occupied,  it  is 
said,  by  yEtolian  allies  of  the  Dorians.  This  great  move- 
ment led  to  other  changes  in  the  Hellenic  world.  Of  the 
Achaeans  in  the  Peloponnesus  some  were  subdued  and 
remained  in  the  land  as  an  inferior  class,  tilling  the  soil 
as  tenants  under  Dorian  lords.  Other  Achseans,  expelled 
from  the  south  and  east  of  the  peninsula,  fell  back  upon  the 
northern  coast,  inhabited  by  the  lonians,  whom  they  drove 
out  into  Attica  and  other  parts  of  Central  Greece.  From 
this  time  the  Peloponnesus  was  mainly  Dorian,  the  lonians 
being  dominant  in  Central  Greece  and  many  islands  of  the 
^Egean  Sea. 

The  Dorian  conquest  was  succeeded  by  the  planting  of 
numerous  colonies  on  the  west  coast  of  Asia  Minor  and 
in  the  neighboring  islands  of  the  ^gean  Sea.  These  col- 
onies were  settled  by  the  three  races,  the  yEolians,  lonians 
and  Dorians.  The  ^Eolians  colonized  the  northwestern 
part,  the  coast  of  Mysia,  and  the  island  of  Lesbos.  Of 
their  confederation  of  twelve  cities  in  that  region  the  chief 
were  Methymna  and  Mytilene,  Cyme  and  Smyrna,  which 
last  was,  early  in  the  historical  period,  taken  by  the  lonians. 
The  lonians  settled  in  the  central  part,  on  the  coast  of 
Lydia,  and  in  the  islands  of  Chios  and  Samos.  Of  their 
powerful  confederation  of  twelve  cities  the  chief  were 
Phocaea,  Miletus  and  Ephesus.  The  Dorians  occupied  the 
southwest  corner  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  adjacent  islands. 
Of  the  six  Dorian  states  the  chief  were  the  islands  of  Cos, 
Thera,  and  Rhodes,  and  the  cities  of  Cnidus  and  Hali- 
carnassus.  Of  all  these  confederations  by  far  the  most 
important,  wealthy  and  powerful  was  the  Ionian. 

Gradually  the  Greeks  spread  themselves  in  settlements 
along  the  northern  coast  of  the  ^gean  Sea  and  the  Pro- 


94       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

ponds,  in  Macedonia  and  Thrace,  so  that  the  whole  JEgean 
became  encircled  with  Greek  colonies,  and  its  islands  were 
covered  with  them.  The  need  of  room  and  the  tempta- 
tions of  commerce  drew  colonists  even  to  the  northern 
and  southern  shores  of  the  Euxine  Sea,  the  lonians  of 
Miletus  being  the  founders  of  many  settlements  in  that 
region,  including  the  greatest  of  them  all,  Sinope.  The 
tide  of  emigration  flowed  westward  also  in  great  strength. 
The  coasts  of  Southern  Italy  were  occupied  by  Dorians, 
Achaeans,  and  lonians  in  settlements  which  grew  to  such 
importancce  that  the  region  took  the  name  of  Magna 
Graecia,  or  Greater  Greece.  The  cities  of  Tarentum,  Cro- 
ton  and  Sybaris  became  famous  for  their  wealth,  the  latter 
giving  rise,  to  the  proverbial  name  for  a  luxurious  liver. 
On  the  southwestern  coast  of  Italy  was  Rhegium,  and 
further  north  came  Paestum,  Cumse  and  Neapolis,  Naples. 
In  Sicily  flourishing  Greek  settlements  abounded,  the  chief 
being  Messana,  Syracuse,  Leontini,  Catana,  Gela,  Selinus 
and  Agrigentum.  Farther  west  still  a  colony  from 
Phocaea,  in  Asia  Minor,  founded  the  city  of  Massilia, 
known  now  to  all  the  world  as  Marseilles.  On  the  south- 
ern coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  westward  from  Egypt, 
the  Greek  colony  of  Cyrene  became  the  chief  town  of  a 
flourishing  district  called  Cyrenaica.  It  must  be  under- 
stood that  the  establishment  of  the  later  of  these  colonies 
brings  us  down  well  within  authentic  historical  times,  and 
that  the  whole  period  of  Greek  colonization  extends  from 
about  B.  C.  1 100  to  600,  the  colonies  being  in  many  cases 
offshoots  of  colonies  previously  established  and  risen  to 
wealth  and  over-population.  In  all  these  movements  and 
settlements  the  enterprise  and  ability  of  the  Greeks  made 
them  great  commercial  rivals  to,  and,  in  a  measure,  suc- 
cessors of  the  Phoenicians. 

The  two  leading  races  of  Greece  were  the  lonians  and 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  95 

the  Dorians,  and  they  stand  to  each  other  in  a  strong  con- 
trast of  character  which  largely  affected  Greek  political 
history.  These  prominent  points  of  difference  run 
through  the  whole  historical  career  of  the  two  chief  states, 
Ionian  Athens  and  Dorian  Sparta,  and  were  the  cause  of 
the  strong  antagonism  that  we  find  so  often  in  action 
between  them.  The  Dorian  was  distinguished  by  sever- 
ity, bluntness,  simplicity  of  life,  conservative  ways,  and 
oligarchic  tendency  in  politics;  the  Ionian  was  equally 
marked  by  vivacity,  excitability,  refinement,  love  of 
change,  taste  in  the  arts,  commercial  enterprise,  and 
attachment  to  democracy.  The  Dorian,  in  the  best  times 
of  his  history,  reverenced  age,  ancient  usage,  and  religion; 
the  Ionian,  at  all  periods  of  his  career,  loved  enjoyment, 
novelty  and  enterprise. 

In  the  kingly  government  of  the  Heroic  Age — the  mon- 
arch was  "the  first  among  his  peers,  the  small  rude  noble 
of  a  small  Hellenic  town."  His  power  was  preserved  by 
respect  for  his  high  lineage,  traced  to  the  gods  in  legend- 
ary song,  and  by  the  warlike  prowess  which  he  knew  how, 
on  occasion,  to  display.  At  about  900  B.  C.  an  important 
change  had  taken  place  in  the  form  of  government  of  most 
of  the  states.  Kingly  rule  had  passed  into  republican,  and 
the  people  were  gathered  into  little  separate  states  enjoy- 
ing various  degrees  of  freedom  according  to  the  aristo- 
cratic or  democratic  nature  of  the  constitution,  though  at 
first  these  commonwealths  were  mostly  aristocracies,  in 
which  "only  men  of  certain  families  were  allowed  to  fill 
public  offices  and  to  take  part  in  the  assemblies  by  which 
the  city  was  governed."  In  the  democracies  all  citizens 
could  hold  offices  and  speak  and  vote  at  the  assemblies  for 
legislative  and  executive  business.  In  Sparta  alone  did 
the  office  and  title  of  King  remain. 

The  Greeks  were,  politically,  parcelled  and  divided  into 


96       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

many  different  states,  but  there  existed  still  a  national  bond 
of  union.  All  were  of  Hellenic  race — lonians,  Dorians, 
yEolians — and,  in  certain  dialectic  varieties,  they  had  a 
common  speech  which  distinguished  them  at  once  from 
the  "barbarians"  of  strange  and  unintelligible  tongue,  as 
well  as  a  common  literature,  religion,  rites,  temples,  and 
festivals  equally  open  to  all.  The  great  feeling  of  every 
Greek,  however,  was  for  his  native  city,  and  the  bane  of 
the  Hellenic  race  was  the  political  dissension  existing  be- 
tween the  rival  parties  in  the  same  state,  and  the  jealous 
antagonism  rife  between  different  states  endowed  with 
different  forms  of  republican  constitution.  The  only  sys- 
tem which  can  bind  together  firmly  into  one  great  state  a 
number  of  independent  smaller  communities  of  democratic 
government  is  that  of  Federal  Union,  with  which  modern 
times  are  familiar  both  in  Europe  and  America.  In 
Greece  the  principle  was  discovered  and  acted  on  too  late 
to  have  a  chance  of  saving  her  from  the  overwhelming 
power  of  Rome. 

The  Dorian  conquest  of  the  Peloponnesus  had  made 
Dorians  supreme,  in  three  states  of  that  peninsula — Argos, 
Messenia  and  Laconia,  about  1 100  B.  C,  and  in  time  the 
Spartans,  or  the  people  of  Lacedaemon,  properly  the  south- 
ern half  of  Laconica  or  Laconia,  became  the  dominant 
nation  in  that  part  of  Greece.  Of  Spartan  doings  and 
fortunes  we  know  almost  nothing  until  the  time  of  the 
great  legislator  Lycurgus,  whose  date  cannot  be  put  later 
than  B.  C.  825.  The  state  of  things  in  Laconia  established 
by  the  Dorian  conquest  was  a  very  peculiar  one.  The 
population  included,  when  Sparta  was  settled  into  a  regu- 
lar political  community,  three  distinct  classes.  There 
were  the  Spartiatae  or  Spartans,  the  Dorian  conquerors 
residing  in  Sparta,  the  chief  city  of  the  land ;  the  Perioeci, 
"dwellers-round,"  who  were  old  Achaean  inhabitants,  trib- 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  97 

utary  tc  the  Spartans,  forming  the  free  dwellers  in  the 
provincial  towns,  having  no  political  rights  or  share  in  the 
government;  and  the  Helots,  who  also  were  a  part  of  the 
old  Achaeans,  but  such  as  had  been  made  into  slaves,  to  till 
the  soil  for  the  individual  members  of  the  ruling  class  or 
Spartiatae,  to  whom  they  were  allotted,  paying  a  fixed  rent 
to  their  masters.  The  Periceci  paid  a  rent  to  the  state  for 
the  land  which  they  held,  but  were,  personally,  free  mem- 
bers of  the  community.  There  was  a  large  number  of  the 
Helots,  and  they  were  constantly  treated  by  the  Spartans 
with  a  harshness  and  a  cruelty  (extending  to  the  frequent 
infliction  of  death)  which  have  made  the  word  "Helot" 
proverbial  for  a  downtrodden  miserable  outcast.  The 
Spartans  were  thus  in  the  position  of  a  powerful  garrison 
in  a  hostile  country,  being  surrounded,  in  the  Perioeci,  by 
those  who  had  no  political  interest  in  the  maintenance  of 
Spartan  supremacy,  and,  in  the  Helots,  by  those  whom  fear 
and  force  alone  restrained  from  rising  to  massacre  their 
oppressors.  Considering  these  circumstances,  we  can  well 
understand  the  growth  in  the  Spartan  citizens  of  that  hard- 
ness of  character  and  hardihood  of  temperament  for  which 
they  became  a  byword  through  all  ages. 

Lycurgus,  of  whom,  as  a  personage,  nothing  certainly 
historical  is  known,  was  the  legislator  who,  about  850 
B.  C,  organized  the  existing  elements  of  society  into  the 
famous  Spartan  constitution,  though  all  parts  of  the  sys- 
tem must  not  be  attributed  to  a  man  whose  existence  has 
been  denied  by  some  historians.  The  probability  is  that  he 
altered  and  reformed  existing  usages,  and  that  the  rever- 
ence of  after-ages  ascribed  to  him  the  promulgation  and 
establishment  of  a  full-grown  brand-new  set  of  institutions 
which  must  have  been,  in  many  points,  of  gradual  growth. 

The  government  was  that  of  an  aristocratic  republic 
under  the  form  of  a  monarchy.  Tk/?r<j  were  two  Kings, 
Voi*.  1  —  7 


whose  powers  were  nominally  those  of  high-priests,  judges 
and  leaders  in  war,  but  in  the  two  latter  capacities  their 
functions  were  in  time  greatly  restricted  and  almost  super- 
seded. The  chief  legislative  and  judicial,  and  much  of 
the  executive,  power  lay  with  the  Senate,  or  council  of 
twenty-eight  elders.  No  citizen  could  be  a  member  of 
this  body  until  he  had  become  sixty  years  of  age,  and  the 
office  was  held  for  life.  The  popular  assembly,  open  to 
every  Spartan  citizen  over  thirty  years  old,  really  handed 
over  its  powers  to  a  board  of  five  commissioners,  officers 
called  Ephors  (meaning  "overseers"),  whom  it  annually 
elected.  These  high  officials  had  a  secret  and  irresponsible 
control  over  the  executive  power,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  in  military  enterprises,  where  the  Kings  were  the 
nominal  leaders,  the  two  Ephors  who  accompanied  the 
army  exercised  much  influence.  The  whole  body  of 
Spartan  citizens  was  an  aristocracy,  as  regarded  their  sub- 
jects, the  Perioeci,  and  amongst  themselves  entire  political 
equality  existed. 

The  object  of  the  peculiar  institutions  of  Sparta  and  of 
the  peculiar  training  of  Spartan  citizens,  ascribed  to 
Lycurgus,  was  the  maintenance  of  Spartan  supremacy 
over  the  subject  population.  It  was  necessary  for  safety 
that  the  small  body  of  men,  said  to  have  numbered  9,000 
in  the  days  of  Lycurgus,  surrounded  by  enemies  in  their 
own  land,  should  be  ready  at  all  points,  in  complete  effi- 
ciency, against  every  attempt  at  opposition  or  rebellion. 
Sparta,  against  the  rest  of  Laconia,  and  against  the  out- 
side world,  if  need  were,  had  to  be  "all  sting,"  and  at  this 
result  the  Spartan  institutions  aimed,  with  eminent  suc- 
cess. 

As  every  man  had  to  be  a  soldier,  and  the  citizen 
existed  only  for  the  state,  the  state  took  the  Spartan  citizen 
in  hand  at  his  birth,  and  regulated  him  almost  from  the 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  99 

cradle  to  the  grave.  Weakly  and  malformed  infants  were 
at  once  exposed  and  left  to  die  of  hunger.  Up  to  the  age 
of  seven  the  male  children  were  left  to  their  Spartan 
mothers,  who  were  not  likely  to  treat  them  with  overmuch 
indulgence,  and  were  then  taken  from  home  and  trained  to 
the  hardiest  of  lives  by  educators  appointed  by  the  state. 
The  Spartan  citizen  was  regarded  as  nothing  but  a  tool 
of  the  state,  and  every  means  was  used  to  give  the  instru- 
ment the  finest  temper,  in  a  physical  sense,  and  to  bring  it 
to  the  sharpest  edge.  The  system  was  that  of  a  huge 
public  school  or  university  in  which  nothing  was  culti- 
vated except  the  body,  and  nothing  esteemed  except  ath- 
letic sports  and  military  training.  The  frugal  fare  pro- 
vided was  eaten  in  messes  or  companies  at  public  tables, 
for  which  each  citizen  contributed  a  share  of  the  expense. 
This  training  lasted  till  the  sixtieth  year  of  life,  when 
the  Spartan  became  qualified  by  age,  if  not  by  wisdom, 
for  election  to  the  Gerousia,  "assembly  of  old  men,"  or 
Senate.  To  bear  extremes  of  hunger  and  thirst,  and  heat 
and  cold,  and  bodily  torture,  and  to  steal  without  detection, 
under  certain  license  and  regulation,  were  the  virtues  of 
youthful  Spartans.  The  girls  were  trained  in  athletic 
exercises  like  those  of  the  youths,  and  all  was  done,  that 
could  be  done,  to  rear  a  race  of  vigorous  women,  hardy  in 
frame  and  stern  of  mood,  prepared  to  gladly  see  their  sons 
die  on  the  battlefield  for  Sparta.  Thus  were  created  in  the 
citizens  unrivaled  habits  of  obedience,  self-denial,  hardi- 
hood, and  military  aptitude;  complete  subjection  on  the 
part  of  each  individual  to  the  local  public  opinion,  and 
preference  of  death  to  the  abandonment  of  Spartan  max- 
ims; intense  ambition  on  the  part  of  everyone  to  distin- 
guish himself  within  the  prescribed  sphere  of  duties,  with 
little  ambition  for  anything  else.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  at  Sparta  we  look  in  vain  for  any  attain- 


too      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

ments  in  literature  and  the  arts;  the  genius  of  the 
Dorian  race  lay  in  a  different  direction,  and  the 
Spartan  training  would  have  stifled  any  abilities  or 
aspirations  that  might  have  existed  for  a  higher  culture 
than  that  of  the  gymnasium  and  the  drill-ground.  Ora- 
tory was  despised,  and  Spartan  wisdom  and  philosophy 
had  for  their  only  vent  the  utterance  of  the  sayings  called, 
in  their  blunt  brevity,  laconic.  The  Spartan  citizen  was 
not  allowed  to  work  at  any  handicraft,  to  till  the  ground, 
or  to  practice  commerce,  and  the  money  used  was  made  of 
iron,  in  order  to  confine  trading  to  transactions  of  absolute 
necessity.  The  result  of  all  was  that  the  Spartans  became 
a  race  of  well-drilled  and  intrepid  warriors,  but  a  nation 
basely  distinguished  in  the  history  of  Greece  for  the  dis- 
play, in  other  countries,  of  a  domineering  arrogance,  a 
rapacity,  and  a  corruption,  which  contributed  not  a  little 
to  her  downfall.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the 
Spartan  institutions  were  very  successful  in  giving  her 
security  at  home  and  success  in  war  abroad.  Sparta  was 
free  from  domestic  revolutions,  and  the  spectacle  she  pre- 
sented of  constancy  to  her  maxims  of  policy  gave  her  a 
great  ascendency  over  the  Hellenic  mind. 

The  Athenians  became  by  far  the  most  famous,  in 
political  ascendency  and  in  artistic  and  intellectual  emi- 
nence, of  all  the  Ionian  race  to  which  they  belonged,  and 
it  was  in  Athens  that  democratic  freedom  was  ultimately 
carried  further  than  in  any  other  state  of  Greece.  Little 
that  is  certain  is  known  of  her  earlier  history.  We  hear 
of  a  King  named  Theseus  as  having,  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century  B.  C,  united  the  various  townships  of  Attica  into 
one  state,  making  Athens  the  chief  seat  of  government, 
and  establishing,  as  a  religious  bond  of  union,  the  Pana- 
thenaea,  or  general  festival  of  the  great  goddess  Athena, 
the  patron  divinity  of  the  land.  He  is  also  said  to  have 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  101 

divided  the  four  original  tribes  of  Attica  into  thirty  clans, 
and  each  clan  into  thirty  houses,  an  arrangement  which 
tended  to  level  distinctions  and  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
mass  of  the  people.  At  first,  then,  the  Athenians  were 
under  Kings,  like  the  other  Hellenes,  but  about  1050  B.  C. 
the  title  of  King  seems  to  have  been  changed  to  that  of 
Archon,  "ruler,"  though  the  office  was  still  held  for  life, 
and  continued  in  the  same  family.  The  Archon  was 
responsible  for  his  acts  to  a  general  assembly  of  the  people, 
in  which,  however,  the  nobles  had  the  chief  influence,  and 
down  to  long  after  the  time  of  the  first  Olympiad,  Athens 
may  be  regarded  as  an  oligarchic  republic,  in  which  the 
supreme  office,  the  Archonship,  was  confined  to  one  fam- 
ily, and  members  of  the  chief  court  of  justice,  called  Areop- 
agus, "hill  of  Ares,"  from  the  place  of  its  assembly  at 
Athens,  were  elected  only  from  the  noble  houses.  In  the 
year  B.  C.  776  the  chronology  of  Grecian  history  becomes 
consecutive,  and  dates  are  reckoned  by  Olympiads.  These 
were  the  periods  of  four  years  each  which  elapsed  between 
the  successive  celebrations  of  the  Olympic  games  in  honor 
of  the  Olympian  Zeus,  the  chief  Greek  deity,  in  the  plain 
of  Olympia  in  Elis.  The  First  Olympiad  began  at  mid- 
summer 776  B.  C.,  the  Second  Olympiad  at  midsummer 
772  B.  C.,  and  so  on — any  event  being  dated  by  the  state- 
ment that  it  occurred  in  a  particular  year  of  a  specified 
Olympiad. 

In  B.  C.  752  the  office  of  Archon  became  decennial. 
In  714  is  was  thrown  open  to  the  whole  body  of  the  nobles 
instead  of  being  confined  to  the  family  of  the  legendary 
King  Codrus.  In  683  the  office  became  annual,  and  its 
duties  were  divided  among  nine  Archons,  discharging  the 
different  functions  which  had  pertained  to  the  King  as 
general  guardian  of  the  rights  of  citizens,  as  high-priest, 
as  the  general-in-chief,  and  as  judicial  interpreter  of  the 


io2      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

unwritten  traditionary  law.  The  people  were  still  with- 
out a  substantial  share  in  the  government,  and  popular  dis- 
content at  oligarchical  oppression  caused  a  demand  for  a 
written  code  of  laws.  The  legislator  Draco,  one  of  the 
Archons,  enacted  laws  in  B.  C.  621,  the  severity  of  which 
has  become  proverbial,  and  which  were  intended,  by  their 
rigor,  to  check  the  growth  of  the  democracy  that  was 
clamoring  for  a  change.  The  penalty  of  death  assigned 
to  all  offenses,  great  and  small,  would  enable  the  nobles  t<? 
get  rid  of  dangerous  leaders  of  the  people,  but  such  a  sys- 
tem could  not,  and  did  not,  long  continue.  Anarchy  pre- 
vailed in  Attica,  caused  by  the  various  factions  of  the 
oligarchs,  the  democrats,  and  a  middle  party  (the  "mod- 
erates"), and  a  wise  reformer  was  greatly  needed  by  the 
distracted  community.  This  reformer  was  found  in  Solon, 
who  was  chosen  as  an  Archon  in  B.  C.  594,  and  invested  by 
his  fellow-citizens,  for  the  special  purpose  of  restoring 
tranquillity,  with  unlimited  power  to  change  the  constitu- 
tion. He  was  already  distinguished  as  a  poet  and  as  a 
general  in  the  war  of  Athens  against  her  neighbor, 
Megara.  He  made  it  his  great  object  to  put  an  end  to  the 
oppressive  and  excessive  power  of  the  aristocracy  without 
introducing  anything  like  pure  democracy.  A  truly  con- 
servative reformer,  he  proceeded  on  the  principle  that 
political  power  should  reside  mainly  with  those  who  are 
possessed  of  means  and  have  something  to  lose  in  case  of 
violent  changes.  Draco's  statutes  were  abolished,  except 
that  involving  the  penalty  of  death  for  murder,  and  with 
his  celebrated  disburdening  ordinance  for  the  relief  of 
debtors.  The  precise  details  of  this  measure  are  uncer- 
tain ;  but  Solon  appears  to  have  shown  great  skill  in  mak- 
ing arrangements  fair  to  all  parties  concerned,  and  he  thus 
won  the  complete  confidence  of  the  people  for  the  funda- 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  103 

mental  changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  state  which  he 
next  took  in  hand. 

Democratic  character  was  given  at  the  outset  to  the 
constitution  of  Solon  by  the  division  of  the  people  into  four 
classes,  according  to  property,  which  was  now  substituted 
for  birth  as  a  qualification  for  the  higher  offices  of  state. 
The  nine  Annual  Archons  were  continued;  state  offices 
could  be  filled  only  by  citizens  of  the  three  higher  classes. 
A  council  of  state,  or  senate,  called  the  Boule,  was  chosen 
annually  by  lot,  to  prepare  measures  for  submission  to  the 
popular  assembly,  or  Ecclesia,  in  which  the  citizens  of  the 
fourth  or  lowest  class  (who  could  hold  no  state  office)  had 
the  right  of  voting.  The  Ecclesia  included  all  classes  of 
the  citizens,  who  there  legislated,  elected  the  magistrates, 
decided  on  peace  or  war,  and  dealt  with  other  matters  sent 
down  to  it  for  discussion  and  decision  by  the  council  of 
state.  For  the  courts  of  justice  below  the  Areopagus,  a 
body  of  6,000  jurors,  was  to  be  annually  selected  by  lot 
from  the  popular  assembly,  and  the  causes  were  tried  by 
divisions  of  the  whole  body.  Solon  was  also  the  author 
of  many  laws  which  regulated  private  life  and  private 
rights,  public  amusements,  slavery,  marriage,  and  other 
matters.  He  appears  then  to  have  left  Attica  for  a  pro- 
longed period  of  travel  abroad. 

A  renewal  of  faction  followed  Solon's  departure,  and 
the  struggle  of  parties  ended  in  the  seizure  of  power  by 
the  "tyrant"  Pisistratus,  in  the  year  560  B.  C.  In 
this  connection  the  word  "Tyrant"  means  simply  an  abso- 
lute ruler,  in  the  first  instance  as  an  usurper  of  power,  and 
not  necessarily  a  cruel  misuser  of  power,  as  our  use  of  the 
word  implies.  The  Greek  "Tyrants"  were  aristocratic 
adventurers  who  took  advantage  of  their  position  and  of 
special  circumstances  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the 
government  in  their  respective  countries.  They  are 


io4      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

found  in  power  from  about  650  to  500  B.  C,  and  their  rule 
was  in  several  instances  highly  beneficial  to  the  states 
which  they  governed.  Being  carried  into  power  by  the 
confidence  of  the  people  over  the  ruins  of  a  defeated 
aristocracy,  they  established  order  for  the  time,  and  in 
some  cases  their  dynasties  lasted  for  over  a  Century.  In 
the  Peloponnesus  a  succession  of  such  rulers  governed 
with  justice  and  moderation  for  100  years  at  Sicyon.  At 
Corinth,  Periander,  succeeding  his  father  Cypselus,  ruled 
for  forty  years,  from  B.  C.  625  to  585,  and  under  him 
Corinth  became  the  leading  commercial  state  in  Greece. 
Polycrates,  tyrant  of  Samos,  was  the  most  distinguished 
of  all  these  rulers  in  the  period  of  transition  from  oligarch} 
to  democracy.  He  was  in  power  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
Sixth  Century  B.  C.,  and  under  him  Samos  became  a  pow- 
erful and  wealthy  commercial  state.  These  despots  were 
often  patrons  of  literature  and  the  arts,  and  the  oppression 
which  was  sometimes  exercised  was  relieved  by  brilliant 
episodes  of  prosperity  and  culture. 

The  constitution  of  Solon  had  not  yet  entered  into  the 
political  life  of  the  community  and  made  itself  felt  as  the 
habit  of  civil  existence,  when  Pisistratus  (B.  C.  560),  in 
the  lifetime  of  the  great  legislator  and  against  his  opposi- 
tion, acquired  supreme  power.  The  legislation  of  Solon, 
however,  virtually  continued  in  force  under  the  rule  of  the 
dictator,  who,  after  being  twice  expelled  and  twice  regain- 
ing his  position,  maintained  order  and  held  his  power  till 
his  death  in  B.  C.  527.  It  is  to  Pisistratus  that  the  world 
owes  the  preservation  in  their  present  form  of  the  poems 
of  Homer,  which  he  caused  to  be  collected  and  edited  in  a 
complete  written  text.  He  was  succeeded,  as  joint-rulers, 
by  his  sons  Hippias  and  Hipparchus ;  but  the  severity  of 
Hippias  (after  the  murder  of  Hipparchus  by  the  famous 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  105 

Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton)  caused  his  expulsion  by  the 
people,  and  the  end  of  the  tyranny  at  Athens,  B.  C.  510. 

The  government  at  Athens  now  (B.  C.  507)  became  a 
pure  democracy  under  the  auspices  of  Cleisthenes,  of  the 
noble  family  of  the  Alcmseonidae.  He  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  popular  party  and  made  important  changes 
in  the  constitution.  The  public  offices  of  power  were 
thrown  open  to  all  the  citizens,  the  whole  people  was 
divided  into  ten  tribes  or  wards,  and  the  senate  now  con- 
sisted of  500  members,  fifty  from  each  ward  or  tribe. 
Cleisthenes  also  introduced  the  peculiar  institution  called 
ostracism  (from  ostrakon,  the  voting  tablet  on  which  the 
name  was  written)  by  which  the  citizens  could  banish  for 
ten  years,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  any  citizen  whose 
removal  from  the  state  might  seem  desirable.  This  device 
was  intended  to  secure  a'  fair  trial  for  the  new  constitu- 
tion by  checking  the  power  of  individuals  when  they  might 
appear  dangerous  to  popular  liberties,  and  by  putting  a  stop 
to  quarrels  between  rival  politicians.  Athens  had  at  last 
secured  a  republican  government  of  the  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic type,  and  from  this  time  she  began  to  assume  a  new 
and  ever-growing  importance  in  Greece,  and  was  soon 
regarded  as  the  chief  of  the  Ionian  states.  The  people, 
through  their  assembly,  the  Ecclesia,  became  thoroughly 
versed  in  public  affairs,  and  practically,  as  well  as  legally, 
supreme  in  the  state.  Internal  quiet  was  secured  and  new 
vigor  was  seen  in  the  whole  administration. 

Under  the  system  established  by  the  legislation  of 
Lycurgus,  Sparta  became  a  thoroughly  military  state,  and 
in  two  great  wars  (743-723  and  685-668  B.  C.)  she  con- 
quered her  neighbors  on  the  west,  the  Messenians,  reduc- 
ing them  to  the  condition  of  the  Helots  and  taking  full 
possession  of  their  land.  By  this  and  by  successful  war 
against  her  northern  neighbors,  the  people  of  Argos, 


106      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

Sparta  became  the  leading  Dorian  state  of  Peloponnesus 
and  of  the  Grecian  world. 


THE   PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

The  great  Persian  monarchy,  founded  by  Cyrus  and 
extended  by  Cambyses,  was  consolidated  by  Darius  I,  who 
became  King  of  Persia  in  B.  C.  521.  By  the  conquest  of 
Lydia,  Persia  had  become  master  of  the  Greek  cities  on  the 
coast  of  Asia  Minor,  which  Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  had 
subdued.  In  B.  C.  500  a  general  revolt  of  the  Ionian  cities 
took  place,  and  the  Athenians  sent  a  force  of  ships  and  sol- 
diers to  help  their  kinsmen.  The  united  force  of  lonians 
and  Athenians  took  and  burned  Sardis,  the  capital  of 
Lydia,  in  499,  but,  after  a  six-years'  struggle,  the  power 
of  Darius  conquered  the  whole  sea-board  of  Ionia,  and  left 
Persia  free  to  punish  the  audacity  of  the  Athenians  in 
interfering  between  the  great  Eastern  Empire  and  her 
revolted  subjects.  The  exiled  Hippias  fanned  the  flame 
of  the  anger  of  Darius,  and  the  wars  between  Persia  and 
Greece  began. 

The  first  Persian  expedition  under  Mardonius,  in  B.  C. 
492,  failed,  and  the  grand  attempt  was  made  two  years 
later,  after  many  of  the  Greek  islands  in  the  JEgean,  and 
some  of  the  states  on  the  mainland,  had  given  in  their  sub- 
mission to  the  envoys  of  Darius,  sent  to  demand  the  token 
of  "earth  and  water."  The  two  great  states,  Athens  and 
Sparta,  treated  the  Persian  despot  with  contemptuous 
defiance. 

A  second  expedition,  commanded  by  Datis  and  Arta- 
phernes,  in  490  B.  C.,  crossed  the-yEgean  Sea,  guided  by 
the  traitor  Hippias.  Naxos  was  sacked  and  Eretria  was 
betrayed.  It  seemed  hardly  possible  that  Athens  could 
be  saved.  The  Persians  disembarked  100,000  soldiers 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  107 

near  Marathon,  in  Attica,  avoiding  the  dangers  of  a  voy- 
age around  the  rocky  coast.  An  appeal  was  made  to 
Sparta  for  help,  but  the  Spartans,  because  of  religious 
scruples,  would  not  march  before  the  full  moon.  So 
9,000  Athenians,  with  slaves  to  carry  their  shields,  went 
forth  to  meet  the  mighty  army  of  the  Persian  King.  On 
the  way  they  were  joined  by  a  thousand  Plataeans — the 
whole  force  of  that  city — who  came  to  stand  by  their  old 
protectors.  Miltiades,  formerly  ruler  of  the  Chersonese, 
was  one  of  the  ten  Athenian  generals.  Five  of  these  voted 
for  awaiting  Spartan  help,  while  the  other  five,  led  by 
Miltiades,  were  for  giving  battle  at  once.  Miltiades'  coun- 
sel prevailing,  under  his  command  the  Greeks  charged 
down  the  hillside  upon  the  Persians.  The  Greek  center 
was  driven  in,  but  the  Greek  wings  prevailed  and  then 
closed  upon  the  Persian  center.  The  Persians  fled  to  their 
ships.  Six  thousand  Persians  fell,  while  the  Greek  loss 
was  only  192.  By  their  heroic  courage  the  Athenians 
saved  their  country,  liberty  and  the  civilization  of  the 
world.  Hippias  was  left  on  the  field  of  battle  and  the 
Persian  fleet  sailed  away  to  Asia  in  shame.  The  hero  of 
this  great  victory,  Miltiades,  undertook  to  conquer  the 
Cyclades,  but  failing  before  Paros  was  accused  of  treason 
and  condemned  to  a  fine  which  he  was  unable  to  pay.  He 
died  in  prison  from  the  effect  of  wounds  received  at 
Marathon. 

The  victory  at  Marathon,  in  which  the  Spartans  had  no 
part,  in  its  immediate  moral  result,  encouraged  further 
resistance  to  a  power  hitherto  deemed  invincible,  and  gave 
Athens  a  position  in  Greece  which  she  had  never  yet  held. 
She  was  released  from  fear  of  the  return  of  her  tyrant 
Hippias,  who  fell  in  the  battle:  her  soldiers  had  caused 
themselves  to  be  regarded  as  the  equals  in  valor  of  the 
famous  Spartans :  she  had  won  a  hard-fought  day  to  be 


io8      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

commemorated  in  painting,  and  poetry,  and  oratory  as 
long  as  Athens  should  endure — a  glory  to  be  enshrined 
for  evermore  in  the  proud  hearts  of  her  free  and  patriotic 
people.  The  death  of  Darius  in  B.  C.  485  prevented  him 
from  renewing  the  Persian  attack  on  Greek  liberties,  and 
the  task  was  bequeathed  to  his  son  Xerxes. 

A  respite  of  ten  years  was  granted  to  Greece  before  she 
was  again  called  on  to  meet  Asiatic  aggression.  The  lead- 
ing men  in  Athens  at  this  time  were  Themistocles  and 
Aristides.  Aristides,  famed  for  his  justice,  was  a 
man  of  the  purest  patriotism,  and  of  conserva- 
tive politics,  which  caused  him  to  oppose  the  meas- 
ures of  Themistocles,  the  champion  of  the  democ- 
racy. The  sagacious  Themistocles  foresaw  the  need 
of  a  powerful  navy  to  resist  the  coming  onslaught  of 
Persian  power,  and  the  Athenians,  by  his  advice,  used  the 
income  derived  from  the  silver-mines  at  Laurium,  a  moun- 
tain in  Attica,  for  the  purpose  of  building  and  equipping  a 
fleet  of  200  triremes,  war-galleys  propelled  by  three  banks 
of  oars  on  each  side.  While  the  great  preparations  of 
Persia  went  on,  Aristides  was  banished,  by  the  operation 
of  ostracism,  in  B.  C.  483,  but  was  recalled  when  the  inva- 
sion took  place.  As  the  time  for  the  great  conflict  drew 
near,  a  general  congress  of  the  Greek  states  was  summoned 
by  Athens  and  Sparta  and  held  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth. 
At  this  national  meeting  Sparta  was  placed,  by  the  voice 
of  Greece,  at  the  head  of  the  patriotic  league  against 
Persia. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  B.  C.  480  Xerxes  set  out  from 
Sardis  for  Greece  with  a  host  such  as  the  world  has  never 
seen  gathered  before  or  since.  Allowing  for  exaggera- 
tion, it  seems  probable  that  it  exceeded  one  million  of  men, 
including  camp-followers,  a  throng  representing  more 
than  forty  different  tribes  or  nations,  in  all  their  varieties 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  109 

of  complexion,  language,  dress,  and  fighting  equipment. 
This  huge  force  passed  into  Europe  by  a  double  bridge  of 
boats  across  the  Hellespont,  and  marched  through  Thrace, 
Macedonia,  and  Thessaly,  with  the  view  of  coming  down 
from  the  north  upon  Attica.  The  Persian  fleet,  of  1,200 
triremes  and  many  transports,  kept  its  course  along  the 
northern  shore  of  the  vEgean  Sea,  and  then  southward,  in 
communication  with  the  land- force. 

The  Greeks  had  resolved  to  make  their  stand  at  the 
Pass  of  Thermopylae,  in  Eastern  Locris,  a  narrow  way 
between  the  eastern  spur  of  Mount  (Eta  and  the  marsh 
on  the  edge  of  the  Gulf  of  Malis.  It  was  now  midsummer, 
and  the  Olympic  games  and  a  great  Dorian  festival  being 
at  hand,  the  Greeks  had  decided  to  solemnize  these,  in  the 
hope  that  a  small  force  could  hold  the  pass  against  the 
Persians  till  the  whole  Greek  army  was  gathered.  The 
Spartan  King,  Leonidas,  with  300  Spartans,  and  a  total 
force  of  about  7,000  men,  was  charged  with  the  defence  of 
the  position.  For  a  whole  day's  desperate  fighting  the 
Greeks  held  their  ground  against  the  Persians,  slaughter- 
ing them  in  heaps,  and,  to  the  wrath  and  astonishment  of 
Xerxes,  who  sat  on  his  throne  and  watched  the  conflict, 
they  even  repulsed  the  Persian  guard,  the  ten  thousand 
"Immortals,"  as  Oriental  vanity  named  them.  During 
the  second  day  the  Greeks  still  kept  firm,  but  on  the  third 
a  traitor,  named  Ephialtes,  of  accursed  memory,  showed 
Xerxes  a  path  across  the  hills  by  which  the  Greek  position 
could  be  taken  in  the  rear.  Then  came  the  end,  of  undying 
fame  for  Greek  valor.  The  main  Greek  force  retreated 
when  the  position  was  seen  to  be  turned,  but  Leonidas  and 
the  survivors  of  the  three  hundred  Spartans  and  seven 
hundred  Thespians  charged  desperately  into  the  thick  of 
the  Persians  on  the  open  ground  to  the  north  of  the  pass, 
and  were  killed  to  the  last  man,  after  slaying  two  brothers 


no      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  Xerxes  and  many  Persian  nobles.  Thus  did  the  Spar- 
tans act  up  to  their  country's  laws,  bidding  them  die  on  the 
ground  they  occupied  rather  than  yield,  and  the  brave 
Thespians  shared  their  fate.  The  history  of  the  world 
has  nothing  finer  or  more  famous  than  this  act  of  self- 
devotion  "for  altars  and  hearths"  against  overwhelming 
force.  The  Battle  of  Thermopylae  took  place  in  August, 
B.  C.  480. 

The  naval  force  of  the  Greeks  was  posted  to  the  north 
of  the  island  of  Euboea,  and  fought  smartly,  though  inde- 
cisively, against  the  superior  Persian  fleet,  about  the  time 
of  the  fight  at  Thermopylae.  Themistocles  was  directing 
the  operations  of  the  Greeks,  and  when  he  learned  that  the 
pass  was  carried  and  the  Persians  were  marching  on 
Athens,  he  withdrew  the  Greek  fleet  southward  to  the  Bay 
of  Salamis,  southwest  of  Attica.  Resistance  to  the  Per- 
sian force  on  land  was  hopeless,  and  Themistocles,  as  the 
enemy  approached,  put  the  whole  population  of  Athens  on 
shipboard,  transported  them  to  Salamis  and  to  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus, and  prepared  to  encounter  the  enemy's  fleet 
again.  The  Persian  army  occupied  and  burnt  Athens; 
and  by  this  time  the  Persian  fleet,  after  severe  losses  by 
storms  off  the  coast  of  Euboea,  was  face  to  face  with  the 
Greek  ships  near  Salamis.  The  Greek  fleet  numbered 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty  vessels,  of  which  nearly  two 
hundred  belonged  to  Athens,  to  encounter  three  times  the 
number  on  the  Persian  side.  On  the  shore  of  Attica  sat 
Xerxes  to  watch  the  result.  The  Persian  ships,  crowded 
in  a  narrow  sea,  could  not  maneuver,  and  the  skill  of  the 
Greek  sailors  in  rowing  and  steering  made  the  victory,  won 
by  "ramming"  the  enemy,  easy  and  complete  for  the  infe- 
rior force.  The  Persians  were  routed  with  the  loss  of 
over  two  hundred  ships.  The  battle  of  Salamis  occurred 
in  September,  B.  C.  480. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  in 

The  Oriental  vanity  and  overweening  confidence  of 
Xerxes  were  beaten  down  by  this  disaster,  and  the  sea 
being  closed  to  him,  he  made  his  way  back  to  Persia  by  the 
land-route  which  had  brought  him  to  the  scene  of  an 
anticipated  triumph  over  his  hereditary  foes.  He  quitted 
Greece  in  October,  leaving  his  general  Mardonius  behind 
him,  with  a  force  of  300,000  men,  to  winter  in  Thessaly, 
and  prosecute  the  war  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year. 
Early  in  B.  C.  479  Mardonius  marched  through  Bceotia 
into  Attica  and  retook  Athens,  again  abandoned  by  its 
inhabitants  and  again  burnt  by  the  Persians.  He  then 
returned  into  Bceotia,  and  in  September  was  fought  the 
great,  final,  and  decisive  battle  of  Platsea.  There  an  army 
of  70,000  Greeks  thoroughly  defeated  the  Persian  host. 
The  Athenians  and  their  allies  were  commanded  by 
Aristides ;  and  the  Spartans,  with  their  confederates,  were 
under  the  Spartan  Prince  Pausanias,  who  also  held  the 
command-in-chief.  The  Greeks  slaughtered  the  Per- 
sians like  sheep,  and  stormed  their  camp,  in  which  was 
taken  a  great  and  magnificent  booty,  displaying  in  a  strik- 
ing form  Oriental  wealth  and  luxury.  From  part  of  the 
plunder  the  Greeks  fashioned  a  golden  offering  for  the 
Delphian  Apollo,  supported  by  a  three-headed  brazen  ser- 
pent, still  to  be  seen  in  the  Hippodrome  at  Constantinople. 
The  Persian  fleet  had  retreated,  after  Salamis,  to  Asia 
Minor,  and  in  the  autumn  of  B.  C.  479  a  combined  naval 
and  military  force  of  Spartans,  Athenians,  and  their  allies 
encountered  them  on  the  coast  of  Ionia.  On  the  very 
same  day  at  Plataea,  in  September,  the  Perisans  were 
defeated,  both  by  land  and  sea,  at  and  off  Mt.  Mycale  oppo- 
site the  island  of  Samos. 

Thermopylae,  Salamis,  Platsea,  Mycale — these  four 
glorious  conflicts  had  decided,  and  for  ever,  the  contest 
between  Asiatic  despotism  and  Greek  freedom,  the  East 


ii3      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and  the  West,  the  old  civilization  and  the  new;  between 
darkness  and  light,  between  self-indulgence  and  self-cul- 
ture, between  effete  Orientalism  and  the  magnificent  pos- 
sibilities of  a  future  reserved  now  for  Athens,  Europe,  and 
the  world.  At  Thermopylae  the  Greeks  had  shown  match- 
less, though  for  the  moment  ineffective  heroism;  at 
Salamis  they  had  won  the  mastery  of  the  sea;  at  Plataea 
and  Mycale  they  had  completed  the  destruction  of  the 
forces  of  the  foe  that  should  nevermore  attempt  to  med- 
dle, uninvited,  with  the  destinies  of  Europe.  To  Athens, 
the  chief  victor  at  Salamis — to  Athens  and  to  Themis- 
tocles,  the  great  leader  who  had  abandoned  a  city  to  save  a 
world,  the  chief  thanks  were  due,  and  they  have  been  amply 
paid  by  posterity.  The  immediate  consequences  were  that 
within  two  years  from  Salamis  and  Platsea  the  Persians 
were  driven  from  all  the  points  held  by  them  on  the  north- 
ern coast  of  the  ^gean,  and  many  of  the  maritime  states 
of  Greece  had  ranged  themselves  under  the  general  leader- 
ship of  Athens. 

The  half-century  following  the  battle  of  Salamis 
(B.  C.  480-430)  forms  the  most  brilliant  period  of 
Athenian  history,  and  one  of  the  greatest  eras  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  About  B.  C.  470  Pericles,  the  illustri- 
ous man  who  gives  his  name  to  this  age,  began  to  be  dis- 
tinguished in  Athenian  politics  as  leader  of  the  democratic 
party.  In  the  constitution  of  Athens  a  wide  scope  wa$ 
given  for  the  development  of  great  political  character 
because  the  system  not  only  allowed  the  display  of  a  man's 
powers,  but  summoned  every  man  to  use  those  powers  for 
the  general  welfare.  At  the  same  time,  no  member  of  the 
community  could  obtain  influence  unless  he  had  the  means 
of  satisfying  the  intellect,  taste,  and  judgment,  as  well  as 
the  excitable  and  volatile  feelings,  of  a  highly  cultivated 
people.  Such  a  man.  in  an  eminent  degree,  was  Pericles. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  113 

From  the  grandeur  of  his  personality  he  has  been  called 
"the  Zeus  of  the  human  Pantheon  of  Athens."  His  stat- 
ure was  majestic,  his  aspect  stern,  his  voice  sweet,  his  man- 
ners reserved,  his  courtesy  princely,  his  self-possession 
imperturbable,  his  oratory  studied,  measured,  overpower- 
ing in  its  awful  splendor  and  effect.  For  over  thirty  years 
(B.  C.  461-429)  Pericles  swayed  the  policy  of  Athens 
with  an  influence  and  authority  derived  from  his  personal 
character,  and  the  impression  which  he  produced  on  the' 
minds  of  his  fellow-citizens  that  he  was  a  thoroughly  noble 
man,  exclusively  intent  upon  the  weal  of  the  state,  and 
superior  to  all  around  him  in  native  genius  and  acquired 
knowledge. 

After  the  fall  of  the  sagacious,  subtle,  prompt,  ener- 
getic, and  resourceful  Themistocles,  banished  by  ostracism 
in  B.  C.  469  at  the  instance  of  the  aristocratic  party  in 
Athens,  the  wealthy,  able,  and  popular  Cimon  was  at  the 
head  of  affairs.  In  B.  C.  466  he  gained  a  great  victory, 
both  by  land  and  sea,  over  the  Persians,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Eurymedon,  in  Pamphylia,  on  the  south  coast  of  Asia 
Minor.  A  part  of  the  value  of  the  plunder  taken  was 
devoted  to  the  adornment,  with  splendid  porticoes,  groves, 
and  gardens,  of  the  city  of  Athens,  which  Themistocles  had 
rebuilt  and  fortified.  Cimon  spent  large  sums  of  his  own 
on  the  city,  and  under  his  direction  the  defences  of  the 
famous  Acropolis  (the  citadel  of  Athens)  were  com- 
pleted. He  was  the  son  of  Miltiades,  the  victor  of  Mara- 
thon. In  B.  C.  461  the  democratic  party  at  Athens  ban- 
ished Cimon  by  the  ostracism,  and  Pericles,  who  had  been 
for  some  years  his  rival,  came  to  the  front. 

To  strengthen  the  power  of  the  democracy  Pericles  had 
caused  his  partisan,  Ephialtes,  to  bring  forward  a  measure, 
which  was  carried,  for  abridging  the  power  of  the  aristo- 
cratic stronghold,  the  court  of  Areopagus,  by  withdrawing 
Vox,.  i—8 


iH  ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

certain  causes  from  its  jurisdiction.  This  was  severely 
felt  by  the  oligarchy,  and  henceforward,  on  the  fall  of 
Cimon,  the  power  of  Pericles  was  paramount  at  Athens. 
He  had  already  gained  popular  favor  by  an  enactment 
that  the  citizens  should  receive  from  the  public  treasury  the 
price  of  admission  to  theatrical  performances,  and  also 
payment  for  attendance  as  jurors  in  the  courts  before 
described,  and  for  service  as  soldiers.  He  gave  especial 
attention  to  the  strengthening  of  the  Athenian  navy,  and 
to  him  is  due,  in  the  largest  measure,  the  adornment  of 
Athens  with  those  triumphs  of  sculpture,  those  eternal 
monuments  of  architecture,  whose  remains  astonish  pos- 
terity, and  have  made  Grecian  art  famous  in  all  after-ages 
of  the  world.  Pericles  was  at  once  a  statesman,  a  general, 
a  man  of  learning,  and  a  patron  of  the  fine  arts.  He  recov- 
ered for  Athens  (B.  C.  445)  the  revolted  island  of  Eubcea ; 
he  was  the  friend  of  the  great  sculptor  Phidias,  and  in  his 
age  the  great  dramatic  compositions  of  Sophocles  were 
presented  on  the  Athenian  stage. 

The  development  of  Athenian  intellect  at  this  time  is, 
indeed,  astonishing,  and  unequaled  in  the  history  of  the 
world  as  the  display  of  a  possession  belonging,  in  a  meas- 
ure, to  the  whole  body  of  citizens  in  a  state.  In  the 
Ecclesia,  or  popular  assembly,  the  men  of  Athens  met  to 
deliberate  upon  matters  of  the  highest  importance  and  of 
the  most  varied  interest.  The  number  of  their  warships, 
the  appointments  of  a  stage-play,  the  reception  of  ambas- 
sadors, the  erection  of  new  temples,  all  these  and  many 
other  matters — intrusted  in  modern  times  to  committees 
and  to  boards  composed  of  men  of  special  knowledge,  to 
elected  parliaments,  to  sovereigns  and  statesmen,  to  pri- 
vate enterprise  and  professional  skill — were  discussed  and 
decided,  in  that  wonderful  democracy  of  Athens,  by  those 
who,  with  us,  are  privileged  only  to  drop  a  voting-paper 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  115 

into  the  ballot-box  at  an  election.  Thus  taking  a  lively 
and  unceasing  interest  in  all  that  arouses  the  mind,  or  ele- 
vates the  passions,  or  refines  the  taste;  supreme  arbiters 
of  the  art  of  the  sculptor,  as  of  the  science  of  the  lawgiver ; 
judges  and  rewarders  of  the  painter  and  of  the  poet,  as  of 
the  successful  negotiator  or  the  prosperous  soldier;  we 
see  at  once  the  all-accomplished,  all-versatile  genius  of  the 
nation,  and  we  behold  in  the  same  glance  the  effect  and 
the  cause:  everything  being  referred  to  the  people,  the 
people  learned  to  judge  of  everything.  They  had  no  need 
of  formal  education.  Their  whole  life  was  one  school. 
The  very  faults  of  their  assembly,  in  its  proneness  to  be 
seduced  by  extraordinary  eloquence,  aroused  the  emulation 
of  the  orator,  and  kept  constantly  awake  the  imagination 
of  the  audience.  An  Athenian  was,  by  the  necessity  of 
birth,  what  Milton  dreamt  that  man  could  only  become  by 
the  labors  of  completest  education — in  peace  a  legislator, 
in  war  a  soldier — in  all  times,  on  all  occasions,  acute  to 
judge  and  resolute  to  act.  All  things  that  can  inspire  the 
thoughts  or  delight  the  hours  of  leisure  were  for  the  peo- 
ple. Theirs  were  the  portico  and  the  school  of  philosophy 
— theirs  the  theater,  the  gardens,  and  the  baths ;  they  were 
not,  as  in  Sparta,  the  tools  of  the  state — they  were  the 
state !  Lycurgus  made  machines,  and  Solon  men. 

In  Sparta  the  machine  was  to  be  wound  up  by  the 
tyranny  of  a  fixed  principle ;  it  could  not  dine  as  it  pleased 
— it  was  not  permitted  to  seek  its  partner  save  by  stealth 
and  in  the  dark ;  its  children  were  not  its  own — even  itself 
had  no  property  in  self.  Sparta  incorporated  under  the 
name  of  freedom  the  most  grievous  and  the  most  frivolous 
vexations  of  slavery.  And  therefore  was  it  that  Lacedse- 
mon  flourished  and  decayed,  bequeathing  to  fame  men 
only  noted  for  hardy  valor,  fanatical  patriotism,  and  pro- 
found but  dishonorable  craft — attracting,  indeed,  the  won- 


u6     ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

der  of  the  world,  but  advancing  no  claim  to  its  gratitude, 
and  contributing  no  single  addition  to  its  intellectual 
stores.  But  in  Athens  the  true  blessing  of  freedom  was 
rightly  placed  in  the  opinions  and  the  soul.  Thought 
was  the  common  heritage,  which  every  man  might  culti- 
vate at  his  will.  This  unshackled  liberty  had  its  convul- 
sions and  its  excesses,  but,  producing,  as  it  did,  unceasing 
emulation  and  unbounded  competition — an  incentive  to 
every  effort,  a  tribunal  to  every  claim — it  broke  into  phi- 
losophy with  the  one,  into  poetry  with  the  other,  into  the 
energy  and  splendor  of  unexampled  intelligence  with  all. 
More  than  four-and-twenty  centuries  after  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Athenian  constitution,  we  yet  behold,  in  the 
labors  of  the  student,  in  the  dreams  of  the  poet,  in  the 
aspirations  of  the  artist,  and  in  the  philosophy  of  the  legis- 
lator, the  imperishable  blessings  which  we  derive  from 
the  liberties  of  Athens  and  the  institutions  of  Solon.  The 
life  of  Athens  became  extinct,  but  her  soul  transfused 
itself,  immortal  and  immortalizing,  through  the  world. 
Athens  had  first  acquired  ascendency  by  her  achieve- 
ments as  one  of  the  champions  of  Greece  against  Persia, 
and  her  maritime  power  gave  her  command  of  the  islands 
of  the  ^Egean,  containing  the  allies  whom  she  transformed 
by  degrees  into  subjects.  In  B.  C.  461  the  treasury  of  the 
confederacy,  to  which  the  allies  paid  tribute,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  naval  force  against  Persia,  was  transferred 
from  Delos  to  Athens,  and  she  then,  with  full  command 
of  the  joint  purse,  pursued  her  policy  of  aggrandizement 
in  the  ^Egean.  The  jealousy  of  Sparta  was  aroused,  and 
in  B.  C.  457  and  456  fighting  occurred  in  Boeotia  between 
the  forces  of  Sparta  with  her  Boeotian  allies,  and  the  Athen- 
ian army.  Athens,  on  the  whole,  prevailed  in  this  con- 
test, and  most  of  the  Boeotians  and  Phocians  joined  the 
Athenian  confederacy.  In  B.  C.  447  the  aristocratical 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  117 

party  in  Boeotia  got  the  upper  hand,  and  the  Athenian 
troops,  after  a  defeat,  were  withdrawn.  From  time  to  time 
states  subject  to  Athens  revolted  and  were  reduced,  as 
Euboea  in  B.  C.  444  and  Samos  in  B.  C.  440.  All  this 
tended  to  produce  the  conflict  between  Athens  and  Sparta, 
with  their  respective  allies  ranged  on  their  sides,  known 
as  the  Peloponnesian  War,  which  had  so  disastrous  an 
effect  on  the  fortunes  of  Greece. 


DOWNFALL   OF   ATHENS 

The  immediate  occasion  of  the  Peloponnesian  War 
was  a  quarrel  between  Corinth  and  Corcyra,  the  large 
island  (now  Corfu)  west  of  Epirus.  The  Athenians  inter- 
fered on  the  side  of  the  Corcyrseans,  the  Spartans  took  up 
the  cause  of  Corinth;  and  in  B.  C.  431  the  long-impending 
struggle  came  on.  The  real  causes  of  the  war  were  the 
discontent  of  the  allies  of  Athens  with  her  arbitrary  treat- 
ment; the  rivalry  of  the  democratic  principle  in  the  Ionian 
states,  headed  by  Athens,  with  the  aristocratic  spirit  in 
the  Dorian  states,  of  which  Sparta  was  the  champion;  and 
the  jealousy — deep-seated,  long-brooding,  at  last  irrepres- 
sible— existing  between  the  two  great  powers — Athens 
and  Sparta — of  the  Greek  world.  The  strength  of  the 
lonians  was  mainly  on  the  sea,  of  the  Dorian  states  in  their 
land  forces.  The  allies  of  Athens  were :  Nearly  all  the 
islands  of  the  -^gean  Sea,  with  Corcyra  and  Zacynthus 
to  the  west;  the  Greek  colonies  on  the  shores  of  Thrace, 
Macedonia,  and  Asia  Minor,  with  Plataea  and  a  few  other 
cities  on  the  mainland  of  Greece.  With  Sparta  were :  All 
the  Peloponnesus,  except  Achaia  and  Argos,  which  held 
aloof,  Locris,  Phocis,  Megara,  and  Bceotia,  the  island  of 
Leucas  and  a  few  cities  in  northwestern  Greece.  The  con- 
test lasted,  with  a  short  interval,  for  twenty-seven  years — 


n8     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

from  B.  C.  431-404,  and  ended  in  a  general  weakening  of 
Greece,  and  in  the  absolute  loss  of  the  Athenian  supremacy. 
The  gain  to  the  world  was  the  noble  work  of  the  historian 
Thucydides,  in  which  he  has  described,  with  masterly 
power  and  fidelity,  the  changeful  course  of  the  struggle 
which  he  witnessed. 

During  the  first  period — ten  years,  from  B.  C.  431-421 
— success  was,  on  the  whole,  evenly  balanced.  The 
Athenians  lost  their  great  leader,  Pericles,  in  B.  C.  429, 
carried  off  by  the  plague  which  then  ravaged  Athens.  The 
Spartan  army,  which  the  Athenians  could  not  cope  with 
in  the  open  field,  regularly  invaded  and  devastated  Attica ; 
the  Athenian  fleet,  which  the  Spartans  could  not  rival, 
regularly  made  descents  on  the  coast  of  Peloponnesus,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  defense  of  the  colonies  and  allies  of 
Athens  in  the  ^Egean,  and  in  conveying  troops  to  assail- 
able points  on  the  mainland,  wherever  the  cause  of  Sparta 
was  favored.  After  the  death  of  Pericles,  the  people  of 
Athens  gave  their  confidence  to  unworthy  demagogues,  of 
whom  the  most  notorious  was  Cleon.  The  chief  generals 
on  the  Athenian  side  were  Demosthenes  (to  be  carefully 
distinguished  from  the  great  orator  of  a  later  time)  and 
Nicias;  the  chief  on  the  Spartan  side  was  the  famous  Bras- 
idas,  who  had  much  success  against  the  Athenian  colonies 
on  the  coast  of  Thrace.  Before  the  end  of  this  period 
the  brilliant  Alcibiades  began  to  display  his  powers  as  a 
statesman  at  Athens.  In  B.  C.  422  a  battle  near  Amphip- 
olis,  on  the  coast  of  Thrace,  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the 
Athenians,  and  the  deaths  of  Cleon  and  of  Brasidas,  the 
latter  an  irreparable  loss  to  Sparta.  On  the  death  of 
Cleon,  the  mild  and  cautious  Nicias  became  one  of  the  lead- 
ing statesmen  at  Athens.  His  efforts  for  peace  resulted  in 
the  conclusion  of  a  truce  between  Athens  and  Sparta  in 
B.  C.  421. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  119 

The  complaints  of  bad  faith  as  to  keeping  the  terms  of 
truce,  and  the  distrust  and  jealousy  of  each  other  felt  by 
Sparta  and  Athens,  soon  led  to  a  renewal  of  hostilities, 
instigated  by  the  chief  Athenian  statesman,  Alcibiades. 
Nothing  decisive  occurred  until  the  Athenians,  turning 
their  attention  westward,  resolved  to  send  an  expedition 
against  Syracuse,  the  great  Dorian  settlement  in  Sicily, 
with  a  view  to  the  reduction  of  that  fertile  and  wealthy 
island^  and  the  acquirement  of  a  great  dominion  in  the 
west.  Athens,  the  great  repeller  of  Eastern  invasion, 
appeared  now  as  the  assailant  of  others.  She  had  become 
the  mistress  of  the  sea,  and  was  hoping  now  to  gain  pos- 
session of  such  sway  in  the  Mediterranean  from  end  to 
end  as  might  enable  her,  with  the  resources  of  Sicily  and 
of  Magna  Grsecia  at  command,  to  crush  Sparta  and  become 
the  foremost  power  of  the  world. 

It  was  in  the  year  B.  C.  415  that  Athens  entered  on  this 
bold  enterprise  for  conquest,  which  was  to  bring  her  to 
ruin  as  a  state  holding  a  great  place  amongst  the  nations 
of  the  world.  A  powerful  expedition  sailed  in  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  under  the  command  of  Alcibiades  and 
Nicias.  With  suicidal  folly,  the  Athenians  recalled,  on  a 
fanatical  and  probably  false  charge  of  insult  to  the  national 
religion,  the  one  man — Alcibiades — who  might  have  made 
the  great  effort  succeed.  He  fled  to  Sparta,  and  by  his 
assistance  and  advice  there  given  contributed  much  to  the 
downfall  of  his  country.  The  Spartans,  in  B.  C.  414,  sent 
a  brave,  politic,  and  skillful  man  named  Gylippus  to  assume 
the  command  of  the  forces  at  Syracuse;  and  Nicias,  a 
weak,  overcautious,  and  irresolute  general,  was  completely 
overmatched.  After  Athenian  repulses  at  Syracuse,  the 
Athenians  made  a  grand  effort,  and  in  B.  C.  413  sent  out 
a  second  powerful  armament  of  ships  and  men,  com- 
manded by  Demosthenes  and  Eurymedon.  It  was  the  last 


120      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

throw  of  Athens  for  the  Empire  of  the  world,  and  it  was 
decisively  and  irretrievably  lost  In  a  grand  land-fight, 
and  in  a  series  of  sea-encounters,  in  which  the  Syracusan 
confederate  force  of  galleys  was  headed  by  the  Corinthian 
squadron,  ably  led,  the  Athenian  military  and  naval  force 
was  utterly  vanquished;  Nicias  and  Demosthenes  were 
taken  and  killed ;  the  whole  expedition,  to  the  last  ship  and 
man,  was  annihilated. 

Henceforward  Athens  could  only  fight,  not  for  con- 
quest, but  for  her  life  as  a  great  independent  state  of 
Greece.  In  B.  C.  412  many  of  her  allies  or  subject  states 
revolted,  including  the  wealthy  Miletus,  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  the  islands  of  Chios  and  Rhodes.  Sparta 
now  formed  an  alliance  with  Persia,  and  used  Eastern  gold 
to  furnish  ships  and  mercenary  soldiers  against  Athens. 
Alcibiades  had  quarreled  with  the  Spartans,  and,  rejoin- 
ing his  country's  side,  conducted  the  war  for  Athens,  in 
some  of  its  closing  years,  with  brilliant  success.  In  B.  C. 
411  a  revolution  took  place  at  Athens,  which  really 
amounted  to  a  sweeping  away  of  the  old  democratic  con- 
stitution of  Solon,  and  the  substitution  of  an  oligarchical 
faction  in  power. 

The  war  was  chiefly  carried  on  in  Asia  Minor,  where 
Alcibiades  and  others  defeated  the  Spartans  and  their 
allies  by  land  and  sea;  but  in  B.  C.  405  the  tide  of  success 
for  Athens  turned  again,  and  the  Athenian  fleet  was  cap- 
tured by  the  Spartan  admiral,  Lysander,  at  the  so-called 
battle  of  yEgospotami  in  the  Hellespont,  the  Athenian  gal- 
leys being  seized,  by  surprise,  on  the  beach,  where  they 
had  been  carelessly  left  by  the  crews  with  an  insufficient 
guard.  In  B.  C.  404  Athens,  blockaded  by  the  Spartans 
both  by  land  and  sea,  surrendered  to  Lysander  after  a  four 
months'  siege,  and  the  war  ended  in  the  downfall  of 
Athens,  and  the  formal  abolition  of  the  great  Athenian 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  121 

democracy,  seventy-six  years  after  the  battle  of  Salamis, 
which  had  given  to  Athens  her  place  of  pride  and  power. 
Henceforward  Athens  was  a  subordinate  power  in  Greece; 
Sparta  was,  for  a  time,  supreme;  a  Spartan  garrison  held 
the  Acropolis;  Alcibiades,  who  might  have  restored 
Athens,  was  assassinated  in  Persia  through  the  influence 
of  Lysander;  and  though,  after  a  brief  period  of  rule  by 
the  Thirty  Tyrants,  set  up  by  Lysander,  a  counter  revolu- 
tion restored  in  part  the  constitution  of  Solon,  the  political 
greatness  of  Athens  had  departed,  and  there  remained  for 
her  only  her  undying  empire  in  art,  philosophy  and  litera- 
ture. 

Sparta,  on  the  decline  of  Athenian  power,  became  the 
leading  state  in  Greece,  and  held  that  position  for  thirty- 
four  years,  from  the  capture  of  the  Athenian  fleet  at 
^gospotami  (B.  C.  405)  to  the  defeat  of  the  Spartan 
army  at  Leuctra  by  the  Thebans  (B.  C.  371 ) .  This  period 
was  one  of  warfare  carried  on  by  the  Spartans  with  the 
Persians  in  Asia  Minor  (B.  C.  399-395) ;  with  a  confed- 
eracy against  Sparta,  composed  of  Corinth,  Athens, 
Argos,  Thebes,  and  Thessaly  (B.  C.  394-387) ;  and  with 
Thebes,  as  she  rose  in  strength  under  Pelopidas  and  Epam- 
inondas  (B.  C.  378-362).  During  this  time  we  find  both 
Sparta  and  Athens  intriguing  with  the  old  enemy,  Persia, 
in  order  to  obtain  her  aid,  for  Greeks  against  Greeks,  in 
their  international  contests — so  low  had  Greece  fallen,  so 
devoid  of  national  spirit  had  she  become,  since  the  days 
of  Salamis  and  Plataea.  The  chief  incidents  of  the  first 
part  of  the  period  are  the  defeat  of  the  troops  of  the  above- 
named  confederacy  at  Coronea  in  Boeotia  by  the  Spartan 
King,  Agesilaus  (B.  C.  394) ;  the  destruction  of  the  Spar- 
tan fleet  at  Cnidus  in  Asia  Minor  by  a  combined  Persian 
and  Athenian  fleet  under  Conon  (B.  C.  394);  and  the 
disgraceful  Peace  of  Antalcidas  (the  Lacedaemonian  gen- 


122     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

eral  who  arranged  it),  concluded  in  B.  C.  387.  By  this 
treaty  of  peace,  (which  Sparta  brought  about  in  order  to 
break  up  the  alliance  between  Athens  and  Persia),  the 
Greek  cities  in  Asia  Minor,  and  the  island  of  Cyprus,  were 
given  up  to  the  Persian  King;  the  Athenians  were  to  keep 
only  the  islands  of  Scyros,  Imbros,  and  Lemnos,  and  all 
the  other  Greek  states  were  to  be  independent  both  of 
Athens  and  Sparta.  Greek  disunion  had  thus  brought  it 
to  pass  that  the  Oriental  enemy  over  whom,  a  century 
before,  Greece  had  so  gloriously  triumphed,  was  dictat- 
ing terms  of  settlement  in  Greek  domestic  strife. 

The  power  that  the  Spartans  had  acquired  among  the 
Greek  states  was  abused  by  them  quite  as  much  as  the 
Athenians  had  ever  abused  theirs;  and  thus  they  had 
quickly  aroused  the  hatred  and  jealousy  of  the  other  states. 
Their  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Thebes  led  to 
a  war  between  the  two  states,  which  speedily  resulted  in 
the  defeat  of  Sparta,  and  the  downfall  of  her  supremacy. 
The  war  between  Thebes  and  Sparta,  in  the  second  part 
of  this  period,  began  in  B.  C.  378.  Thebes,  long  undis- 
tinguished (since  the  death  of  the  great  poet  Pindar,  about 
B.  C.  440)  in  purely  intellectual  matters,  had  been  giving 
great  attention  to  warlike  training,  evolutions,  and  tactics, 
and  in  her  two  great  statesmen  and  soldiers,  Pelopidas  and 
Epaminondas,  she  had  found  the  men  to  direct  her  newly 
acquired  powers  to  successful  achievements  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Epaminondas  is  one  of  the  greatest  characters 
in  Grecian  history.  He  made  Thebes  great,  and,  with  his 
death,  Theban  greatness  died.  A  most  skillful  general 
and  a  good  man,  he  was  well  supported  by  his  close  friend 
Pelopidas,  who  was  in  all  ways  worthy  of  the  association 
of  their  names  in  recounting  the  brief  glory  of  Theban 
history.  Athens  joined  Thebes  in  the  contest,  and  the 
doings  of  her  fleet  revived  the  memory  of  her  old  renown, 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  123 

and  gave  back  to  her  for  a  time  her  supremacy  over  the 
maritime  states  of  Greece.  In  B.  C.  376  the  Athenian 
fleet,  under  Chabrias,  severely  defeated  the  Lacedaemonian 
off  Naxos.  In  B.  C.  371  the  Spartan  army  invaded  Bceo- 
tia,  and  was  utterly  defeated  by  the  Thebans,  under 
Epaminondas  and  Pelopidas,  at  the  great  battle  of  Leuctra. 
The  moral  influence  of  this  victory  was  very  great;  the 
name  for  invincibility,  so  long  possessed  by  Sparta,  passed 
away  from  her,  and  henceforward  she  held  but  a  secondary 
position  amongst  the  states  of  Greece.  The  victorious 
Thebans  now  invaded  Peloponnesus,  formed  an  alliance 
with  Argos,  Elis,  and  Arcadia,  and  warred  against  Sparta 
with  success  enough  to  render  Messenia  independent  in 
B.  C.  369,  after  she  had  been  under  Spartan  dominion  for 
350  years.  In  B.  C.  367  Sparta  had  some  success  against 
Argos,  Arcadia,  and  Messenia,  and  in  B.  C.  364  the  The- 
bans lost  Pelopidas,  killed  in  action  in  Thessaly.  In  B.  C. 
362  Epaminondas,  with  a  Theban  army,  invaded  Pelo- 
ponnesus, and  gained  his  great  victory  at  Mantinea,  in 
Arcadia,  over  the  Spartan  army,  dying  gloriously  of  a 
wound  when  the  battle  was  won.  In  B.  C.  361  a  general 
peace  was  made,  when  Greece  was  for  the  time  exhausted 
by  international  fighting;  the  supremacy  of  Thebes  came 
to  an  end  with  the  loss  of  Epaminondas,  and  as  Greece 
proper,  politically  corrupt  and  greatly  weakened  by  long 
warfare,  declined  in  moral  and  military  strength,  a  new 
era  began  with  the  accession  of  Philip  II  to  the  throne 
of  Macedon  in  B.  C.  359. 

Macedonia,  to  the  north  of  Thessaly,  was  not  consid- 
ered by  the  Hellenes  as  a  part  of  Hellas,  though  some 
connection  in  point  of  race  undoubtedly  existed.  The  peo- 
ple seem  to  have  been  composed  of  Thracians  and  Illyrians 
with  a  large  mixture  of  Dorian  settlers  amongst  them. 
The  country  had  no  political  importance  till  the  time  of 


1 24      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Philip.  The  line  of  Macedonian  Kings  claimed  to  be  of 
Hellenic  descent,  and  Greek  civilization  had  been  culti- 
vated by  some  of  them. 

Philip  of  Macedon  was  a  prince  of  great  ability,  edu- 
cated at  Thebes  during  the  time  of  Theban  supremacy,  and 
trained  in  war  by  Epaminondas,  on  whose  tactics  he 
founded  his  famous  invention,  the  "Macedonian  phalanx." 
He  was  a  master  of  the  Greek  language,  and  a  diligent  and 
acute  observer,  for  future  use,  of  the  condition  of  Greece 
and  of  the  character  of  the  degenerate  politicians  of 
Athens.  His  fame  has  been  overshadowed  by  that  of  his 
illustrious  son,  but  he  made  Macedonia  the  leading  power 
in  Greece,  and  gave  Alexander  the  basis  for  his  great 
achievements.  He  was  a  man  of  unscrupulous  character, 
determined  will,  prompt  action,  and  patient  purpose;  and 
when  he  became  King  of  Macedon  in  B.  C.  359  he  had 
formed  the  plan  of  making  his  country  supreme  in  the 
Hellenic  world,  as  Athens,  Sparta,  and  Thebes  had  suc- 
cessively been.  He  partly  bought  and  partly  fought  his 
way  to  the  end  he  had  in  view,  bribing  the  Greek  politi- 
cians to  further  his  designs  in  their  respective  cities,  and 
wielding  the  phalanx  with  irresistible  effect,  when  force, 
instead  of  fraud,  was  the  weapon  to  be  employed. 

From  B.  C.  356  to  B.  C.  346  a  war  called  the  Phocian 
or  First  Sacred  War  was  waged  between  the  Thebans 
and  the  Phocians,  with  allies  on  each  side,  the  origin  of  the 
war  being  a  dispute  about  a  bit  of  ground  devoted  for 
religious  reasons  to  lying  perpetually  fallow.  The  end  of 
it  was  that  Philip  of  Macedon  was  called  in  to  settle  mat- 
ters, and  his  ambition  had  secured  a  firm  foothold  in 
Greece.  He  possessed  himself  by  force  of  the  Athenian 
cities  of  Amphipolis,  Pydna,  Potidaea,  and  Olynthus,  being 
vigorously  opposed  throughout  by  the  great  Athenian 
orator  and  patriot,  Demosthenes,  who  strove  to  rouse  his 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  125 

countrymen  against  Philip's  dangerous  encroachments,  in 
the  famous  speeches  known  as  the  Olynthiac  and  Philippic 
orations. 

The  political  career  of  Demosthenes  extends  from 
about  B.  C.  355-322,  and  was  marked  by  patriotic  fervor 
and  matchless  eloquence.  In  B.  C.  338  he  brought  about 
an  alliance  between  Athens  and  Thebes,  and  their  armies 
met  that  of  Philip  on  the  fatal  field  of  Chseronea,  in  Bceo- 
tia.  There  Greek  independence  perished — sapped  by 
Greek  folly,  selfishness  and  sloth — overthrown  by  the  Mac- 
edonian phalanx  and  Philip's  warlike  skill.  This 
renowned  military  formation  consisted  of  men  ranged  six- 
teen deep,  armed  with  a  pike  extending  eighteen  feet  in 
front  of  the  soldier  when  it  was  held  ready  for  action,  and 
clad  in  the  usual  defensive  armor.  It  thus  presented  a 
weighty  mass,  bristling  with  deadly  points,  to  the  on- 
slaught of  the  foe. 

The  battle  of  Chaeronea,  fought  in  B.  C.  338,  closes 
the  third  period  of  Greek  history.  Philip  had  already 
formed  and  taken  some  steps  toward  carrying  out  the 
design  of  subjugating  the  Persian  Empire.  This  task 
was  left  for  his  son,  Alexander,  to  undertake,  as  Philip 
was  killed  by  an  assassin  in  B.  C.  336.  At  a  congress  held 
at  Corinth,  after  Chseronea,  Philip  had  been  appointed, 
by  the  voice  of  united  Greece  (save  Sparta),  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  national  confederate  forces  against  Persia, 
and  Alexander  naturally  succeeded  to  the  enterprise  on 
becoming  monarch  of  Macedon. 

ALEXANDER'S  CONQUESTS 

Alexander  of  Macedon  was  one  of  the  supremely  great 
men  who  have  been  called  "world-historical,"  because  of 
the  great  influence  which  their  achievements  have  exer- 


iz6      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

cised  upon  the  world  as  they  found  it,  and  have  continued 
to  exert  long  after  they  had  passed  away. 

Alexander,  who  was  educated  by  Aristotle,  the  most 
intellectual  man  of  his  time,  and  one  of  the  most  intel- 
lectual men  of  all  time,  was  not  only  a  soldier  of  consum- 
mate ability,  but  a  statesman  of  large  and  comprehensive 
ideas,  as  displayed  in  his  schemes  of  commerce  and  of  cul- 
ture, and  of  the  union  of  the  nations  into  a  great  Empire 
conterminous  with  the  known  and  civilized  world.  Of 
his  military  abilities  it  is  enough  to  say  that  Napoleon 
selected  Alexander  as  one  of  the  seven  greatest  generals 
whose  noble  deeds  history  has  handed  down  to  us,  and 
from  the  study  of  whose  campaigns  the  principles  of  war 
are  to  be  learned.  He  is  celebrated  in  Grecian  history  as 
being,  next  to  Pericles,  the  most  liberal  patron  of  the  arts, 
and,  in  short,  there  was  no  department  in  which  the  great- 
ness of  his  character,  either  in  personal  achievement  or  in 
his  appreciation  of  others,  was  not  shown  forth  for  the 
admiration  of  mankind. 

Alexander's  exploits  were  all  performed  in  the  short 
space  of  thirteen  years,  his  rule  lasting  from  B.  C.  336-323. 
Coming  to  the  throne  of  Macedon  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
he  had  to  deal  with  enemies  on  every  side.  After  putting 
down  rebellion  in  his  own  Kingdom,  he  marched  into 
Greece,  overawed  Thebes,  which  had  been  intriguing 
against  him,  and  in  a  congress  of  Greek  states  at  the  Isth- 
mus of  Corinth,  he  was  unanimously  appointed  the  repre- 
sentative of  Greece  in  command  of  the  great  expedition 
against  Persia.  In  B.  C.  335  he  made  a  successful  expe- 
dition against  the  barbarians  of  the  North  and  West,  the 
Thracians,  Getae,  and  Illyrians,  and  on  his  return  found 
Thebes  in  revolt  against  him.  He  dealt  with  the  matter 
in  a  sharp,  short,  and  decisive  way.  Thebes  was  taken  by 
storm;  the  inhabitants  were  all  slain  or  sold  as  slaves;  and 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  127 

all  the  buildings,  except  the  temples  and  the  house  which 
had  been  that  of  Pindar,  the  poet,  were  razed.  The  cap- 
ital of  Bceotia  had  defied  Alexander,  and  had  ceased  to 
exist.  In  B.  C.  334  Alexander  crossed  the  Hellespont  at 
the  head  of  an  army  of  30,000  foot-soldiers  and  5,000 
cavalry,  and  first  met  the  foe  at  the  river  Granicus,  in 
Mysia.  The  result  was  a  Persian  defeat,  which  cleared 
the  way  through  Asia  Minor,  and  brought  the  Macedon- 
ians to  the  borders  of  Syria.  The  second  battle  (B.  C. 
333),  and  a  great  one,  was  fought  at  Issus,  in  the  south- 
east of  Cilicia.  There  Alexander  met  the  King  of  Persia 
himself,  Darius  III,  and  gained  a  complete  victory  over 
a  vastly  superior  force.  Darius  fled,  leaving  his  wife  and 
mother  prisoners  in  the  conqueror's  hands.  They. were 
treated  by  him  with  courtesy  and  kindness. 

The  Persian  resistance  disposed  of  for  a  time,  Alex- 
ander turned  southward,  in  order  to  do  his  work  thor- 
oughly as  he  proceeded,  and  leave  behind  him  nothing 
unsubdued  before  his  advance  into  the  interior  of  Asia. 
He  made  an  easy  conquest  of  the  cities  of  Phoenicia,  except 
Tyre,  which  resisted  obstinately  for  seven  months,  and 
was  taken  in  the  summer  of  B.  C.  332.  After  taking  Gaza, 
Alexander  marched  into  Egypt,  which  received  him 
gladly,  from  hatred  of  her  Persian  rulers.  Early  in  B.  C. 
331  the  Macedonian  King  handed  down  his  name  to  future 
ages  by  founding,  at  the  mouth  of  the  'western  branch  of 
the  Nile,  the  city  of  Alexandria,  which  was  destined  to 
become  so  famous  for  commerce,  wealth,  literature,  and 
learning. 

In  the  spring  of  B.  C.  331  Alexander  set  out  again  for 
Persia,  where  Darius  had  been  gathering  an  immense 
force  with  which  to  make  a  last  struggle  for  the  Empire 
of  the  world.  After  traversing  Phoenicia  and  Northern 
Syria,  Alexander  crossed  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and 


J23      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

.came  out  on  the  plain  near  the  little  village  of  Gaugamela, 
to  the  southwest  of  the  ruins  of  Nineveh.  The  great  and 
decisive  battle  that  ensued  with  the  Persians  was  fought 
in  October,  B.  C.  331,  and  has  been  called  the  battle  of 
Arbela,  from  a  place  many  miles  to  the  east,  across  the 
river  Zabatus,  where  Alexander  had  his  headquarters  on 
the  day  after  the  battle. 

The  battle  of  Arbela  was  a  miracle  of  heroism  and  gen- 
eralship on  the  part  of  the  victor.  With  a  force  of  less 
than  50,000  men,  Alexander  met  at  least  six  times  the 
number  of  warlike,  well-trained  troops,  on  ground  admira- 
bly suited  for  the  action  of  their  formidable  cavalry,  almost 
equaling  in  numbers  the  whole  Greek  army.  Taking  his 
life  in  his  hand,  and  risking  all  to  win  all;  trusting  to  his 
own  skill  and  to  the  courage  and  devotion  of  his  troops; 
calculating  on  the  moral  effect  to  be  produced  by  a  suc- 
cessful assault  on  that  part  of  the  Persian  host  where 
Darius  himself  was  posted;  confident  in  the  power  of  the 
phalanx,  and  yet  taking  every  precaution  that  skill  and 
foresight  could  suggest — Alexander  gained  for  himself, 
by  his  dispositions  and  conduct  on  this  great  day,  a  place 
among  the  foremost  tacticians  and  heroes  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  The  phalanx  forced  its  irresistible  way 
through  the  Persian  center,  moved  nearer  and  nearer  to 
Darius,  shook  his  strong  nerves  at  last,  and  sent  him  flee- 
ing, fast  as  horse  could  bear  him,  from  the  field  of,  not 
merely  a  lost  battle,  but  a  ruined  Empire.  A  few  days 
afterward  Alexander  entered  Babylon,  far  to  the  south, 
as  virtual  master  of  the  Eastern  world,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five.  In  the  following  year  (B.  C.  330)  Darius 
was  murdered  by  his  satrap  Bessus,  governor  of  Bactria. 

After  receiving  the  surrender  of  the  other  two  capitals, 
Susa  and  Persepolis,  Alexander  spent  the  year  B.  C.  330 
in  conquering  the  northern  provinces  of  the  Persian 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  129 

Empire,  between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Indus.  In  B.  C. 
329  he  marched  into  Bactria,  over  the  mountains  now 
called  the  Hindoo  Koosh,  caught  and  slew  the  traitor  Bes- 
sus,  and  advanced  even  beyond  the  river  Jaxartes  (the  Sir 
or  Sihon).  In  B.  C.  328  he  was  engaged  in  the  conquest 
of  Sogdiana,  between  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes,  the  country 
of  which  the  capital  was  Maracanda,  the  modern  Samar- 
cand.  In  the  spring,  B.  C.  327,  Alexander  marched 
through  what  is  now  Afghanistan,  crossed  the  Indus,  and 
defeated  an  Indian  King,  Porus,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hydaspes.  He  was  thus  the  first  European  sovereign  to 
conquer  the  Punjaub,  which  he  restored,  in  honor  of  a 
gallant  resistance,  to  his  prisoner  Porus.  Beyond  the 
Hyphasis  the  now  war-worn  Macedonian  soldiers  declined 
to  march,  and  Alexander  determined  to  go  back,  by  a  new 
route,  to  Persia.  On  his  way  to  the  Indus  he  stormed  the 
capital  of  an  Indian  tribe,  now  Mooltan,  and  was  himself 
severely  wounded  in  the  assault.  In  B.  C.  326  he  sailed 
in  a  fleet,  built  on  the  spot,  down  trie  Indus,  into  the  ocean ; 
despatched  a  part  of  the  army  on  board  the  ships,  under 
his  admiral  Nearchus,  by  sea  coastwise  into  the  Persian 
Gulf,  and  marched  himself  with  the  rest  through  Gedrosia 
(now  Beloochistan),  reaching  Susa  early  in  B.  C.  325. 

During  the  rest  which  the  troops  took  here,  Alexander, 
many  of  his  generals,  and  many  thousands  of  his  soldiers, 
married  Asiatic  women,  and,  with  the  same  view  of  bring- 
ing Europe  and  Asia  into  one  form  of  civilization,  great 
numbers  of  Asiatics  were  enrolled  in  the  victorious  army, 
and  trained  in  the  European  fashion.  For  the  improve- 
ment of  commerce,  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  were  cleared 
of  obstructions.  From  Susa,  in  the  autumn  of  B.  C.  325, 
Alexander  visited  Ecbatana,  in  Media,  and  thence  pro- 
ceeded to  Babylon,  which  he  entered  again  in  the  spring 

of  B.  C.  324.    He  received  on  the  way  ambassadors  from 
Voi,.  1—9 


130      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

almost  every  part  of  the  world  which  he  had  awed  and 
astonished  by  his  exploits.  In  the  tenth  year  after  he  had 
crossed  the  Hellespont,  Alexander,  having  won  his  vast 
dominion,  entered  Babylon;  and,  resting  from  his  career, 
steadily  surveyed  the  mass  of  various  nations  which  owned 
his  sovereignty,  and  revolved  in  his  mind  the  great  work 
of  breathing  into  this  huge  but  inert  body  the  living  spirit 
of  Greek  civilization.  In  the  bloom  of  youthful  manhood, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  he  paused  from  the  fiery  speed 
of  his  earlier  course,  and  for  the  first  time  gave  the  nations 
an  opportunity  of  offering  their  homage  before  his  throne. 
They  came  from  all  the  extremities  of  the  earth  to  pro- 
pitiate his  anger,  to  celebrate  his  greatness,  or  to  solicit 
his  protection. 

It  was  the  intention  of  Alexander  to  make  Babylon 
the  capital  of  the  Empire,  as  being  the  best  means  of  com- 
munication between  East  and  West;  and  among  the  great 
schemes  which  he  meditated  are  said  to  have  been  the  con- 
quests of  Arabia,  of  Carthage,  of  Italy,  and  of  Western 
Europe.  For  commercial  and  agricultural  purposes  he 
intended  to  explore  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  to  improve  the 
irrigation  of  the  Babylonian  plain.  All  his  plans  were 
made  vain  by  his  sudden  death  of  a  fever  at  Babylon  in 
the  summer  of  B.  C.  323,  after  a  career  of  which  the  bare 
recital  is,  perhaps,  the  best  eulogium.  His  wisdom  as  a 
statesman,  concerned  in  retaining  what  he  had  subjugated 
as  a  general,  was  strikingly  shown  in  the  policy  which  he 
pursued  toward  the  conquered.  With  enlightened  and 
prudent  toleration,  he  protected  them  from  oppression; 
he  respected  their  religion,  and  left  the  civil  administration 
to  their  native  rulers;  his  great  principle  being  to  alter 
as  little  as  possible  the  internal  organization  of  the  coun- 
tries subdued  by  his  arms.  In  the  plans  of  Alexander,  the 
union  of  the  East  and  the  West  was  to  be  brought  about 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  131 

in  the  amalgamation  of  the  dominant  races  by  intermar- 
riage, by  education,  and,  more  than  all,  by  the  ties  of  com- 
merce. In  nothing,  probably,  is  the  superiority  of  his 
genius  more  brilliantly  displayed  than  in  his  exemption 
from  all  national  prejudice. 

Alexander  the  Great  left  no  heir  to  his  immense 
Empire;  but  the  Greek  Kingdoms  which  arose  after  him 
in  Asia  and  in  Africa  are  the  dynasty  which  he  founded. 
The  territory  which  he  had  subdued  was  divided  amongst 
many  successors,  but  the  Greek  culture  which  his  arms  con- 
veyed with  them  endured  for  many  generations.  In  Bac- 
tria  (the  modern  Bokhara),  Asia  Minor,  Armenia,  Syria, 
Babylonia  and  above  all  in  Egypt,  Greek  Kingdoms  were 
established  as  centers  of  science,  art,  and  learning,  from 
which  Greek  light  radiated  into  the  world  around  them. 
In  Europe,  besides  that  of  Macedon,  a  Kingdom  in  Thrace, 
stretching  beyond  the  Danube,  another  in  Illyria,  and 
another  in  Epirus,  were  under  the  rule  of  Greek  princes. 
The  general  knowledge  of  mankind  was  greatly  increased 
by  Alexander's  conquests,  which  opened  up  the  Eastern 
world  fully  to  Europeans,  and  penetrated  into  countries, 
such  as  Bactria  and  Sogdiana,  which  were  previously 
almost  unknown  to  them.  The  sciences  of  geography  and 
natural  history  thus  received  great  additions,  and  so  Asia 
made  some  return  for  the  boon  which  she  was  receiving 
from  Europe.  To  Alexander  the  world  owed,  amongst 
other  great  cities  built  by  him  or  his  successors,  Alexandria 
in  Egypt,  and  Antioch  in  Syria. 

The  Greek  language  became  the  tongue  of  all  govern- 
ment and  literature  throughout  many  countries  where  the 
people  were  not  Greek  by  birth.  It  was  thus  at  the  very 
moment  that  Greece  began  to  lose  her  political  freedom 
that  she  made,  as  it  were,  an  intellectual  conquest  of  a  large 
part  of  the  world.  In  the  cities  and  lands  which  in  this 


132      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

way  became  partially  Hellenized,  that  is,  imbued  with 
Greek  ideas  and  civilization,  learning  and  science  flour- 
ished as  they  had  never  flourished  before.  The  Greek 
tongue  became  the  common  speech  of  the  civilized  world. 
Throughout  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt,  the  Hellenic 
character  that  was  thus  imparted  remained  in  full  vigor 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Mahometan  conquests.  .  .  The 
early  growth  and  progress  of  Christianity  were  aided  by 
that  diffusion  of  the  Greek  language  and  civilization. 

On  the  death  of  Alexander  in  B.  C.  323  a  struggle  of 
more  than  twenty  years'  duration  ensued  among  his  prin- , 
cipal  generals  and  their  heirs — Perdiccas,  Ptolemy,  Antig- 
onus,  his  son  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  Cassander,  Seleucus, 
and  others.  At  last,  in  B.  C.  301,  a  great  and  decisive 
battle  was  fought  at  Ipsus,  in  Phrygia,  between  Antigonus 
(with  his  son  Demetrius)  and  a  confederacy  of  his  rivals. 
The  result  was  to  distribute  the  provinces  of  Alexander's 
Empire  in  the  following  way :  Lysimachus  got  nearly  the 
whole  of  Asia  Minor;  Cassander  was  left  in  possession 
of  Greece  and  Macedon;  Seleucus  took  Syria  and  the  East; 
Ptolemy  had  Egypt  and  Palestine.  Of  all  these  we  can 
here  notice  only  the  two  most  important  Kingdoms — 
that  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt  and  that  of  the  Seleucidae 
in  the  East. 

Ptolemy  I,  surnamed  Soter,  the  Preserver,  who  had 
really  become  King  of  Egypt  on  Alexander's  death,  was 
the  founder  of  a  line  of  monarchs  who  governed  for  300 
years,  until  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  Rome.  His  admin- 
istration of  the  country  was  successful  and  enlightened, 
and  he  raised  Alexandria  to  the  highest  place  amongst 
commercial  cities.  It  was  he  who  founded  there  the  colony 
of  Jews,  to  whom  the  subsequent  fame  of  Alexandria  in 
philosophy  and  literature,  as  well  as  in  politics,  was  largely 
due.  He  was  a  great  patron  of  science,  art  and  literature, 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  133 

and  founded  the  museum  and  library  of  Alexandria.  The 
great  mathematician,  Euclid,  flourished  in  his  reign.  He 
was  succeeded  in  B.  C.  285  by  his  son  Ptolemy  II,  sur- 
named  Philadelphus,  brotherly.  This  King  is  renowned 
as  a  munificent  patron  of  science  and  literature,  and  raised 
to  the  greatest  splendor  the  institutions  founded  by  his 
father.  The  library  of  Alexandria  was  enriched  with  the 
treasures  of  ancient  literary  art.  He  was  the  builder  of 
the  famous  lighthouse  on  the  island  of  Pharos  at  Alexan- 
dria, which  was  one  of  the  "seven  wonders  of  the  world," 
and  he  greatly  promoted  commerce  in  the  Red  Sea,  and 
the  caravan  trade  with  Arabia  and  India.  Ptolemy  Phil- 
adelphus died  in  B.  C.  247.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Ptolemy  III,  surnamed  Euergetes,  or  "benefactor," 
by  his  Egyptian  subjects,  because  he  brought  back,  on  his 
return  from  an  Eastern  expedition,  the  statues  of  their 
gods  carried  off  by  Cambyses,  and  restored  them  to  their 
temples  in  Egypt.  Under  the  Ptolemies  generally,  the 
Egyptians  were  treated  with  mildness;  the  civil  admin- 
istration was  much  left  to  native  rulers,  and  the  ancient 
religion  was  respected;  all  this  was  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  the  great  Alexander.  The  patronage  of 
literature  was  continued,  and  the  court  of  Ptolemy  Euer- 
getes was  the  resort  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the 
day,  including  the  celebrated  grammarian  and  poet,  Cal- 
limachus,  who  was  chief  librarian  of  the  famous  Alexan- 
drian institution,  and  the  founder  of  a  great  school  of 
grammarians.  Ptolemy  III  died  in  B.  C.  222,  leaving 
the  Graeco-Egyptian  Kingdom  in  the  highest  prosperity 
at  home,  and  with  the  widest  dominion  abroad,  which  it 
ever  attained.  Under  his  vicious  son,  Ptolemy  IV,  sur- 
named Philopator  (filial),  who  reigned  till  B.  C.  205,  the 
Kingdom  declined  in  political  power;  but  even  this 
Ptolemy  was  the  supporter  of  literature,  and  dedicated  a 


134      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

temple  to  Homer  as  a  divinity.  Under  Ptolemy  V,  sur- 
named  Epiphanes  (illustrious), who  reigned  B.C.  205-181, 
nearly  all  the  foreign  possessions  of  Egypt  were  perma- 
nently lost  to  Antiochus  of  Syria  and  others,  and  Roman 
influence  in  Egypt  began  in  the  form  of  an  alliance  for  her 
protection.  Under  the  successors  of  this  monarch  the 
Egyptian  Kingdom  gradually  declined,  and  Roman  influ- 
ence increased,  until,  with  the  death  of  the  famous  Cleopa- 
tra, in  B.  C.  30,  Egypt  became  a  Roman  province. 

While  the  Ptolemies  held  sway,  the  city  of  Alexandria 
was  not  only  the  chief  center  of  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
but  the  point  of  union  for  Eastern  manners  and  tradition 
with  Western  civilization.  Like  Alexander  the  Great,  the 
best  of  the  Ptolemies,  amidst  all  military  enterprises,  and 
in  all  civil  administration,  paid  great  regard  to  the  spread 
of  civilization  by  the  furtherance  of  commercial  inter- 
course and  of  literary  and  scientific  research.  The  pecu- 
liarity of  the  culture  which  prevailed  during  this  period 
at  the  literary  capital  of  the  world,  Alexandria,  was  the 
contact  and  mutual  reaction  of  the  ideas  of  the  Jew,  the 
Egyptian,  and  the  Greek.  The  intellectual  friction  caused 
hereby  resulted  in  great  mental  activity,  especially  in  math- 
ematical science,  cultivated  with  distinguished  success  by 
Euclid  the  geometrician,  founder  of  the  Alexandrian 
mathematical  school;  Apollonius,  the  inventor  of  conic 
sections;  Hipparchus,  the  father  of  astronomy  and  of  sci- 
entific geography;  and  Eratosthenes,  the  learned  astron- 
omer, geometrician,  geographer,  and  grammarian.  What 
the  Pharos  of  Alexandria  was  to  the  ships  that  used  her 
harbor,  that  was  Alexandria  herself,  with  her  schools  of 
learning,  to  a  great  part  of  the  civilized  world — a  light 
shining,  not  into  utter  darkness,  but  so  as  to  guide  men 
past  the  shoals  of  error  into  the  haven  of  the  truth  as  then 
known  and  understood.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  were 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  135 

translated  into  Greek  (the  Septuagint  version,  or  version 
of  "the  seventy")  by  learned  Jews;  the  great  Homeric 
poems,  the  "Iliad"  and  the  "Odyssey,"  were  revised  and 
critically  edited  by  the  celebrated  grammarians  Zenodottis, 
his  pupil  Aristophanes,  and  the  greatest  critic  on 
antiquity,  Aristarchus,  whose  edition  of  Homer  has  been 
the  basis  of  the  text  to  the  present  day. 

The  Syrian  monarchy  of  the  Seleucidae  began  in  B.  C 
312,  with  Seleucus  I,  surnamed  Nicator,  one  of  Alexan- 
der's generals,  and  under  him  was  extended  over  much  of 
Asia  Minor,  including  also  the  whole  of  Syria  from  the 
Mediterranean  to  the  Euphrates,  and  the  territory  east- 
ward from  the  Euphrates  to  the  banks  of  the  Oxus  and  the 
Indus.  Seleucus  I  was  an  able  and  energetic  monarch,  and 
sedulously  carried  out  the  plans  of  Alexander  the  Great 
for  the  spreading  of  Greek  civilization,  establishing  in 
nearly  every  province  of  his  great  Empire  Greek  colonies 
for  that  purpose.  He  died  in  B.  C.  280,  having  founded 
the  city  of  Antioch  in  Syria  as  the  capital  of  his  Kingdom. 
His  successors,  the  dynasty  known  as  the  Seleucidae,  or 
"descendants  of  Seleucus,"  ruled  for  about  two  centuries. 
The  most  notable  of  these  monarchs  were  named  Anti- 
ochus.  The  third  of  the  name,  Antiochus  the  Great, 
reigned  from  B.  C.  223  to  187,  and  was  the  monarch  at 
whose  court  Hannibal,  the  great  Carthaginian,  took 
refuge.  Antiochus  invaded  Greece  in  B.  C.  192,  and  there 
came  into  collision  with  the  Romans,  who  defeated  him 
both  by  land  and  sea,  and  compelled  him  to  yield  a  large 
part  of  his  dominions  in  Asia  Minor.  Much  of  the  east- 
ern territory  had  been  lost  before  this  time,  as  well  as 
Phoenicia,  Palestine,  and  Western  Syria,  conquered  by 
Ptolemy  Philopator,  King  of  Egypt.  Antiochus  Epiph- 
anes  (reigned  B.  C.  175-164)  was  the  King  who  oppressed 
the  Jews,  and  tried  to  introduce  the  worship  of  the  Greek 


136      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

divinities;  it  was  against  him  that  the  brave  Maccabees 
rose  in  rebellion.  The  Syrian  Kingdom  came  to  an  end 
in  B.  C.  65,  conquered  by  the  Romans  under  Pompey. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   DECLINE 

The  last  period  in  the  history  of  Greece  presents  a 
spectacle  dreary  and  degraded,  affecting  and  instructive. 
Long  wars  were  carried  on,  amongst  different  successors 
of  Alexander,  in  contention  for  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Greek  states.  Factions  and  intrigues  were  rife  in  and 
between  the  different  communities.  From  time  to  time 
great  and  patriotic  men  arise,  making  a  struggle  glorious 
for  themselves,  vain  in  its  issue,  for  the  restoration  of 
political  freedom  and  of  the  spirit  of  the  olden  time  that 
could  return  no  more.  "Leagues"  and  confederations 
were  formed  in  order  to  resist,  if  possible,  by  combination, 
and  by  the  resources  of  diplomacy,  the  coming  doom  of 
political  extinction.  Greece  was,  last  of  all,  brought  into 
contact  with  the  guile  and  power  of  Rome,  her  great  suc- 
cessor in  the  world's  history,  and  absorbed  into  her  grow- 
ing Empire. 

An  effort  to  free  Greece  from  the  Macedonian  suprem- 
acy was  headed  by  Athens  in  B.  C.  323.  The  renowned 
Athenian  orators,  Demosthenes  and  Hyperides,  were  the 
political  heroes  of  the  occasion,  opposed  by  Phocion,  a  man 
of  pure  character,  but  one  who  despaired  of  a  successful 
rising  against  Antipater,  ruler  of  Macedonia  before  and 
after  Alexander  the  Great's  death.  Athens  was  joined  by 
most  of  the  states  in  Central  and  Northern  Greece,  and  the 
war  derives  its  name  from  the  town  of  Lamia  in  Thessaly, 
where  Antipater,  after  being  defeated  by  the  confederates, 
was  besieged  for  some  months.  The  war  ended  in  B.  C. 
322,  by  Antipater's  complete  victory  at  the  battle  of  Cran- 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  137 

non,  in  Thessaly.  Demosthenes  ended  his  life  by  poison 
in  the  same  year;  Hyperides  was  killed  by  Antipater's 
orders;  Phocion  died  by  the  hemlock  at  Athens  in  B.  C. 
317,  on  a  charge  of  treason. 

A  distinguished  character  of  this  period  of  Greek 
decline  was  Demetrius  Poliorcetes  ("besieger  of  cities"), 
King  of  Macedonia  B.  C.  294-287.  His  life  was  passed  in 
fighting  with  varied  success,  and  he  was  driven  from  the 
throne  of  Macedon  at  last  by  a  combination  of  enemies, 
including  the  famous  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus.  Deme- 
trius was  a  man  of  wonderful  energy,  promptitude,  daring, 
and  fertility  of  resource,  deriving  his  surname  from  the 
enormous  machines  which  he  caused  to  be  constructed  for 
the  siege  of  Rhodes,  one  of  his  warlike  enterprises.  He 
was  of  service  to  Athens,  and  freed  her  for  a  time  from 
Macedonian  domination  before  he  became  himself  ruler  of 
Macedon. 

Epirus,  in  the  northwest  of  Greece,  was  inhabited 
by  descendants  of  the  old  Pelasgians  and  Illyrians. 
The  first  King  was  Alexander,  the  brother  of  Olympias, 
mother  of  Alexander  the  Great.  He  ruled  from  B.  C. 
336  to  B.  C.  326.  Pyrrhus  became  King  in  B.  C.  295, 
and  reigned  till  B.  C.  272,  and  is  renowned  in  history 
as  the  greatest  warrior  of  his  age.  His  career  resembles 
that  of  Charles  XII  of  Sweden  in  its  warlike  activity  and 
adventurous  character,  and  in  its  failure  to  leave  any 
enduring  result  of  ambitious  enterprise  and  brilliant 
achievement.  Pyrrhus  seems,  says  Mommsen,  to  have 
"aimed  at  doing  in  the  Western  world  what  Alexander 
the  Great  did  in  the  East;  but  while  Alexander's  work  out- 
lived him,  Pyrrhus  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes  the  wreck 
of  all  his  plans."  According  to  the  great  historian  of 
Rome,  Dr.  Arnold,  Pyrrhus  aimed  at  foreign  conquest  as 
a  means  of  establishing  his  supremacy  over  Greece  itself. 


138      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

He  hoped  that  after  being  victorious  over  the  Romans 
he  should  then,  passing  over  into  Sicily,  assail  thence 
effectually  the  dominion  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Africa, 
and  return  home  to  Epirus  with  an  irresistible  force  of 
subject-allies,  to  expel  Antigonus  from  Thessaly  and 
Bceotia,  and,  making  himself  master  of  Macedonia,  to 
reign  over  Greece  and  the  world,  as  became  the  kinsman 
of  Alexander  and  the  descendant  (as  he  claimed  to  be)  of 
Achilles. 

This  affable,  generous,  daring,  and  popular  prince 
fought  with  great  bravery  at  the  decisive  battle  of  Ipsus 
in  B.  C.  301.  He  had  been  driven  by  his  subjects  from 
Epirus;  but,  assisted  with  a  fleet  and  army  by  Ptolemy  I 
of  Egypt,  returned  thither  and  began  his  actual  reign  in 
B.  C.  295.  His  first  efforts  were  turned  against  Mace- 
donia; but,  after  much  fighting,  he  lost  his  hold  there  in 
B.  C.  286.  It  was  in  B.  C.  280  that  he  began  his  great 
enterprise  by  crossing  over  into  Italy,  to  aid  the  Tarentines 
against  the  Romans.  In  his  first  campaign  he  defeated  the 
Romans  in  the  battle  of  Heraclea  in  Lucania.  The  skill 
of  Pyrrhus  was  aided  by  a  force  of  armored  elephants  and 
by  the  Macedonian  formation  of  the  phalanx,  both  novel- 
ties in  war  to  the  Romans. 

In  the  second  campaign  (B.  C.  279)  Pyrrhus  gained 
a  second  dearly-bought  victory  over  the  Romans  at  Ascu- 
lum  in  Apulia,  but  there  was  no  decisive  result,  and  in 
B.  C.  278  he  crossed  over  into  Sicily,  to  help  the  Greeks 
there  against  the  Carthaginians.  At  first  he  was  success- 
ful, and  defeated  the  Carthaginians,  taking  the  town  of 
Eryx;  but  he  failed  in  other  operations,  and  returned  to 
Italy  in  B.  C.  276,  again  to  assist  the  Tarentines  against 
the  Romans.  In  B.  C.  275  his  career  in  Italy  was  closed 
by  a  great  defeat  inflicted  by  the  Romans  at  the  battle  of 
Beneventum  in  Samnium,  and  Pyrrhus  returned  to  Epirus 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  139 

with  the  remnant  of  his  army.  In  B.  C.  273  he  invaded 
Macedonia  with  such  success  as  to  become  King,  and  his 
restless  spirit  then  drove  him  to  war  in  Peloponnesus.  He 
was  repulsed  in  an  attack  on  Sparta,  and,  after  entering 
the  city  of  Argos  to  assist  one  of  its  factions,  was  knocked 
from  his  horse,  stunned  by  a  heavy  tile  hurled  from  a 
house-top  by  a  woman's  hand,  and  killed  by  the  soldiers 
of  the  other  party.  Thus  died  Pyrrhus,  in  the  forty-sixth 
year  of  his  age  and  the  twenty-third  of  his  reign,  a  man 
coming  nearer  than  any  other  in  the  olden  time  to  the 
character  of  one  of  the  chivalrous  fighters  of  the  Middle 
Ages — a  Cceur  de  Lion,  and  something  more — a  man  of 
the  highest  military  skill,  capable  of  conceiving  great 
enterprises,  but  without  the  steady  resolution  and  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  to  bring  them  to  a  successful  issue. 

An  interesting  occurrence  of  the  time  was  an  invasion 
of  Greece  by  the  Gauls,  in  B.  C.  280.  After  penetrating 
through  Macedonia  and  Thessaly,  they  were  defeated  un- 
der their  leader  Brennus  (to  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  the  captor  of  Rome  a  century  earlier),  near  Delphi, 
in  Phocis.  Some  of  the  Gauls  in  this  irruption  made  their 
way  into  Asia  Minor,  and  ultimately  gave  their  name  to 
the  province  called  Galatia,  adopting  the  Greek  customs 
and  religion,  but  keeping  their  own  language. 

In  B.  C.  284  yEtolia,  a  large  territory  in  the  west  of 
Central  Greece — many  of  the  tribes  of  which  were  bar- 
barians (i.e.  did  not  speak  Greek)  at  the  time  of  the 
Peloponnesian  war — formed  against  the  Macedonian 
monarchy  a  powerful  league,  which  included  Acarnania, 
Locris,  and  part  of  Thessaly,  and  had  many  allies  in 
Peloponnesus.  This  and  other  such  federal  unions  of  dif- 
ferent states  had  for  their  object  the  restoration  and  main- 
tenance of  Greek  independence,  the  control  of  questions  of 
peace  and  war  being  left  to  certain  high  officials  and  a  com- 


HO      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

mittee  appointed  by  the  different  states.  They  were  serv- 
iceable for  a  time  against  Macedonia,  but  all  succumbed  at 
last  to  the  power  of  Rome.  Most  of  Greece  was  included 
in  one  or  other  of  these  confederacies,  while  Macedonia 
in  the  North  was  ever  striving  to  recover  and  to  maintain 
her  influence,  and  Sparta  in  the  South  kept  her  usual  posi- 
tion of  sullen  isolation. 

The  Achaean  League  was  founded,  in  its  new  form, 
in  B.  C.  280,  consisting  of  the  towns  in  Achsea,  and  after- 
ward including  Sicyon,  Corinth,  Athens,  and  many  other 
Greek  cities,  so  that  it  became  the  chief  political  power  in 
Greece.  In  B.  C.  245  the  able  and  patriotic  Aratus  (some- 
times called  the  "last  of  the  Greeks"),  became  general  or 
head  of  the  league,  and  much  extended  its  influence,  being 
especially  skillful  in  diplomacy.  Philopoemen,  an  Arca- 
dian, was  another  distinguished  man  of  this  period,  and 
became  general  of  the  league  in  B.  C.  208,  and  again  in 

B.  C.  20 1  and  B.  C.  192.      He  was  successful  in  battle 
against  the  Spartans  when  they  made  war  on  the  League, 
and  in  B.  C.  188  took  Sparta,  leveled  the  fortifications, 
and  abolished  the  institutions  of  Lycurgus,  introducing  in 
their  stead  the  Achaean  laws.  He  died  in  B.  C.  182,  a  great 
man,  worthy  of  a  better  age  and  of  a  better  fate,  having 
been  taken  in  battle  by  the  revolted  Messenians,  and  poi- 
soned in  prison. 

In  B.  C.  244  Agis  IV,  one  of  the  associate  Kings  of 
Sparta,  tried  to  reform  the  state  by  a  revival  of  the  decayed 
institutions  of  Lycurgus,  Sparta  having  fallen  away  into 
luxury  and  vice,  which  had  sapped  national  and  social 
strength.  His  colleague,  Leonidas  II,  assassinated  him  by 
command  of  the  Ephors,  to  please  the  corrupt  Spartan 
aristocracy.  Cleomenes  III  was  King  of  Sparta  from  B. 

C.  236-222,  and  his  period  of  rule  throws  a  last  gleam  of 
olden  glory  over  the  gloom  of  his  country's  inevitable 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  141 

decay.  He  was  a  Spartan  of  the  olden  type,  modified  by 
the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and  strove  with  great  energy 
and  temporary  success  to  regenerate  his  country.  He  was 
successful  in  war  against  the  Achaean  League,  and  in  B.  C. 
226  effected  a  revolution  at  home.  He  overthrew  the 
Ephors,  and  restored  the  ancient  constitution  on  a  new  and 
wider  basis  by  admitting  to  Spartan  citizenship  many  of 
the  Periceci,  while  he  enforced  the  regulations  of  Lycur- 
gus  bearing  on  simplicity  of  life  and  manners.  His  power 
was  ended  by  an  alliance  between  his  old  enemy,  the 
Achaean  League,  and  the  Macedonians,  whose  united 
forces  completely  defeated  him  at  the  battle  of  Sellasia, 
in  Laconia,  B.  C.  222.  He  fled  to  Egypt,  and  died  there 
by  his  own  hand  in  B.  C.  220.  With  him  the  day  of  Sparta 
was  done  as  a  free  state,  and  she  sank  into  insignificance, 
forced  at  last  to  join  the  Achaean  League  in  B.  C.  188,  by 
Philopcemen. 

Macedon  was  brought  into  collision  with  the  growing 
power  of  republican  Rome  during  the  reign  of  King  Philip 
V,  B.  C.  220-178.  He  was  an  able  monarch,  skilled  in 
war,  but  was  totally  defeated  by  the  Roman  general  Fla- 
mininus,at  the  battle  of  Cynoscephalae,  in  Thessaly,in  B.  C. 
197.  In  the  following  year,  by  authority  of  Rome,  Greece 
was  declared  free  and  independent  by  a  herald  at  the  Isth- 
mian Games,  which  were  celebrated  at  Corinth.  The 
power  of  Macedon  thus  virtually  came  to  an  end,  but,  as 
regarded  the  Greeks,  this  proclamation  was  really  a  trans- 
fer of  supremacy  from  Macedon  to  Rome,  and  hencefor- 
ward Rome  constantly  interfered  in  Greek  affairs.  Domes- 
tic faction  helped  Roman  intrigues,  ambition  and  arms, 
and  the  battle  of  Pydna,  in  Macedonia,  gained  by  the 
Romans  in  B.  C.  168  over  Perseus,  the  last  King  of  Mace- 
don, formally  ended  the  dominion  established  by  Philip 


142      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

II  nearly  two  centuries  before.     Macedonia  was  made  a 
Roman  province  in  B.  C.  147. 

The  Achaean  League  had  gradually  declined  in  power, 
and  in  B.  C.  150  war  with  Rome  began,  as  a  last  effort 
on  behalf  of  Greece.  It  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  forces 
of  the  League  by  the  Roman  general  Mummius,  under  the 
walls  of  Corinth,  B.  C.  146.  The  city  was  taken,  plun- 
dered, and  burned  to  the  ground ;  the  Achaean  League  was 
formally  dissolved,  and  Greece  was  made  into  a  Roman 
province  under  the  name  of  Achaia  in  B.  C.  146.  Amongst 
others,  the  city  of  Athens  was  allowed  to  retain  a  kind  of 
freedom,  and  she  became,  along  with  Alexandria,  a  uni- 
versity town  of  the  civilized  world,  in  which  students  of 
art,  philosophy,  and  literature  found  the  best  models  and 
the  best  instruction,  and  were  inspired  by  memorials  of 
the  past  in  a  land  that  was  politically  dead,  but  was  living 
with  an  imperishable  life  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  highest 
forms  of  intellectual  culture. 


GREEK    COLONIES 

By  the  peace  of  Antalcidas,  concluded  in  B.  C.  387, 
the  Greek  cities  in  Asia  Minor  were  ceded  to  Persia,  and  on 
the  fall  of  the  Persian  Empire  they  were  incorporated  with 
Alexander's,  and  followed  the  fortunes  of  some  of  the 
Kingdoms  formed  out  of  the  fragments  of  his  vast  domin- 
ion. Cyprus  and  much  of  the  south  coast  of  Asia  Minor 
came  under  the  Ptolemies  of  Egypt;  nearly  all  the  west 
coast  was  governed  by  the  Seleucidae  of  the  Syrian  King- 
dom; the  coast  opposite  to  Lesbos  became  in  B.  C.  280 
the  independent  Kingdom  of  Pergamus,  lasting  till  B.  C. 
133,  when  its  King,  Attalus  III,  bequeathed  his  territory 
to  the  Romans.  Pergamus  was  a  splendid  city,  with  a 
library  and  school  of  literature  rivaling  those  of  Alexan- 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  143 

dria,  and  interesting  in  the  history  of  books  for  the  inven- 
tion of  parchment  as  a  writing  material,  the  prepared  skin 
of  sheep  and  goats  there  introduced  being  called  by  the 
Romans  Charta  Pergamena,  or  paper  of  Pergamus, 
whence  (through  the  French  parchemin)  our  word  is  de- 
rived. Smyrna  is  remarkable  as  the  only  great  city  on  the 
west  coast  of  Asia  Minor  which  has  survived  to  the  present 
day,  where  it  remains  the  greatest  commercial  town 
of  that  quarter  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  ancient  city 
was  abandoned  and  a  new  one  founded  near  it  on  the  pres- 
ent site  by  Antigonus,  one  of  Alexander's  generals.  It  has 
a  splendid  harbor,  and  soon  attained  great  prosperity, 
which  it  kept  through  the  Roman  times,  being  famous  also 
as  one  of  the  "seven  churches  of  Asia,"  addressed  by  St. 
John  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  as  the  scene  of  the  martyrdom 
of  Polycarp,  its  bishop.  Ephesus,  chief  of  the  Ionian 
cities,  was  celebrated  for  its  temple  of  Artemis  (Diana), 
built  in  the  Sixth  Century  B.  C.,  and  burnt  down  by  the 
incendiary  Herostratus  on  the  night  on  which  Alexander 
the  Great  was  born,  B.  C.  356.  It  was  splendidly  rebuilt, 
and  was  the  chief  ornament  of  the  magnificent  city,  of 
which  many  ruins  are  still  visible.  Ephesus  flourished 
through  the  time  of  Alexander's  successors,  and  became 
under  the  Romans  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Asia,  and 
the  greatest  city  of  Asia  Minor,  being  well  known  also  in 
connection  with  early  Christianity  and  St.  Paul.  Halicar- 
nassus,  the  Dorian  city  in  Caria,  was  taken  by  Alexander 
the  Great  and  destroyed,  in  B.  C.  334.  It  had  a  world- 
wide reputation  through  its  Mausoleum  (the  origin  of  the 
name  of  all  such  splendid  tombs),  the  edifice  erected  by 
Queen  Artemisia  II  (who  reigned  B.  C.  352-350),  in 
honor  of  her  husband,  Mausolus.  The  greatest  Greek 
sculptors  of  the  age  adorned  this  building  by  their  art,  and 
some  splendid  relics  of  it  are  in  the  British  Museum. 


144      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

The  island  of  Rhodes  early  became  a  great  maritime 
state,  and  founded  many  important  colonies  in  Sicily, 
Southern  Italy,  and  elsewhere.  The  city  of  Rhodus 
(Rhodes)  was  built  in  B.  C.  408,  and  the  island,  after  sub- 
jection both  to  Sparta  and  to  Athens,  became  an  independ- 
ent republic  in  B.  C.  355.  After  Alexander  the  Great's 
death,  Rhodes  was  in  alliance  with  the  Greek  Kingdom  in 
Egypt  (the  Ptolemies),  the  city  acquiring  great  fame  by 
its  successful  resistance  in  B.  C.  305  to  the  efforts  of 
Demetrius  Poliorcetes.  After  this  even  the  famous  Colos- 
sus (one  of  the  "seven  wonders")  was  erected  at  the  mouth 
of  the  harbor,  but  not  with  its  legs  extended  across,  as 
commonly  supposed.  Greek  taste  would  be  a  guarantee 
against  an  attitude  so  absurd  and  inelegant,  and  there  is 
no  authority  for  the  statement.  It  was  a  huge  bronze 
statue  of  the  Sun-god,  105  feet  in  height,  and  remained 
there  for  56  years,  being  overthrown  and  shattered  by  an 
earthquake  in  B.  C.  224.  Rhodes  remained  a  great  com- 
mercial state  and  maritime  power  till  the  time  of  the 
Roman  emperors,  but  the  city  was  completely  ruined  by 
an  earthquake  in  A.  D.  155. 

In  Italy  Tarentum,  founded  in  B.  C.  708  by  Lacedae- 
monian settlers,  became  the  greatest  city  of  Magna  Graecia, 
and  had  a  large  commerce,  war-fleet  and  army.  The  cit- 
izens were  wealthy  and  luxurious,  and  at  last  sought  aid 
from  Greece  against  Italian  foes.  They  were  helped  for 
a  time  by  Pyrrhus  against  the  Romans,  but  after  his  defeat 
the  city  of  Tarentum  was  taken  by  the  latter  in  B.  C.  272, 
and  its  prosperity  departed  after  the  second  Punic  war, 
in  which  it  revolted  to  Hannibal,  being  retaken  by  Rome 
in  B.  C.  207.  Croton  or  Crotona  was  a  powerful  com- 
mercial city,  famous  for  the  school  of  the  philosopher 
Pythagoras,  and,  in  a  different  way,  for  the  possession  of 
the  greatest  athlete  of  all  Grecian  history,  Milo,  a  man 


HISTO&Y  OF  GREECE  145 

of  prodigious  strength  and  activity,  six  times  victorious  in 
wrestling  at  the  Olympian  and  as  many  times  at  the 
Pythian  games.  It  destroyed  the  wealthy  and  luxurious 
city  of  Sybaris  in  B.  C.  510,  and  sank  itself  to  decay  in 
its  wars  with  Syracuse  and  with  Pyrrhus.  Thurii  was  a 
powerful  Greek  city  in  the  same  quarter,  near  to  Sybaris, 
and  was  founded  in  B.  C.  443  by  the  remains  of  the  Syb- 
arites and  by  colonists  from  all  parts  of  Greece,  including 
many  from  Athens,  and  the  historian  Herodotus.  In  the 
Third  Century  B.  C.  it  fell  under  the  power  of  Rome. 

In  Sicily,  the  Doric  city  of  Agrigentum  was  very 
wealthy  and  populous,  till  its  destruction  by  the  Cartha- 
ginians in  B.  C.  405.  It  was  here  that  the  celebrated  Pha- 
laris  was  "tyrant"  in  the  Sixth  Century  B.  C. — the  despot 
said  to  have  had  a  brazen  bull,  in  which  he  roasted  his 
victims  alive.  But  the  main  interest  and  importance  of 
Greek  history  in  Sicily  are  centered  in  the  great  city  of 
Syracuse,  which  was  founded  in  B.  C.  734  by  a  colony 
of  Corinthians  and  other  Dorians,  and  extended  in  time 
from  an  island,  Ortygia,  to  the  mainland  opposite,  when 
it  consisted  of  five  separate  quarters,  each  with  its  own 
fortifications.  It  had  two  fine  harbors  and  became  a  very 
large  and  flourishing  city.  In  B.  C.  485,  after  struggles 
between  the  aristocratic  and  democratic  parties,  Syracuse 
came  under  the  sovereignty  of  Gelon,  who  greatly 
increased  its  power.  In  480  (the  year  of  Thermopylae  and 
Salamis)  he  gained  his  great  victory  over  the  Carthagin- 
ians, who  had  invaded  Sicily  with  an  immense  force,  which 
was  almost  destroyed.  The  career  of  Syracuse  was  thus 
assured,  but  Gelon,  a  monarch  of  excellent  character,  a 
model  "tyrant"  (in  the  Greek  sense  of  the  word),  died 
soon  afterwards,  in  B.  C.  478.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  the  famous  Hieron  or  Hiero  I,  who  reigned  till 
B.  C.  467.  Under  him  Syracuse  rose  to  her  greatest  pros- 
Voi,.  i  — 10 


146      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

perity,  his  chief  exploit  being  a  naval  victory  over  the 
Etruscan  fleet  near  Cumse,  in  B.  C.  474.  Hieron  was  a 
great  patron  of  literature,  and  entertained  at  his  court  the 
poets  ^Eschylus  and  Pindar,  the  latter  of  whom  has  cele- 
brated in  his  odes  the  victories  won  by  the  chariots  of  the 
Syracusan  King  at  the  Olympian  contests.  Hiero's 
brother,  Thrasybulus,  who  succeeded,  was  driven  out  by 
the  Syracusans  for  his  tyranny  (in  the  modern  sense),  and 
a  democracy  was  established  which  continued  for  about 
sixty  years.  This  ended  in  the  triumph  of  Syracuse  in 
B.  C.  413,  and  in  B.  C.  405  the  state  fell  under  the  absolute 
rule  of  Dionysius  I  (the  elder),  who  reigned  till  B.  C.  367. 

After  conquering  several  Sicilian  cities,  Dionysius 
turned  his  arms  in  B.  C.  397  against  the  old  enemy  of 
Sicily,  the  great,  commercial  Carthage.  In  395  his  fleet 
was  beaten  and  he  was  besieged  in  Syracuse,  but  he  drove 
the  enemy  off  and  destroyed  their  fleet,  after  a  plague  had 
reduced  their  strength.  In  392  peace  was  made  between 
Carthage  and  Syracuse,  and  for  twenty-five  years  Diony- 
sius, till  his  death  in  B.  C.  367,  ruled  Syracuse  as  the  most 
powerful  of  Greek  states  in  that  quarter,  commanding 
with  her  fleets  the  seas  to  east  and  west  of  Italy.  He  was 
a  steady  encourager  of  literature  and  the  arts,  and  erected 
at  Syracuse  many  fine  temples  and  other  buildings.  His 
severe  conduct  and  system  of  espionage  against  treachery, 
in  the  last  part  of  his  reign,  have  caused  him  to  be  de- 
nounced as  a  model  of  a  bad  despot,  but  he  unquestionably 
did  much  for  Syracuse. 

His  son,  Dionysius  II  (the  younger),  reigned  at  Syra- 
cuse from  B.  C.  367-356,  and  after  losing  and  recovering, 
his  power,  again  from  B.  C.  346-343.  He  was  a  weak 
and  dissolute  person,  fond  of  theoretical  philosophy  and  a 
friend  of  Plato  and  other  teachers.  He  was  expelled  by 
Timoleon,  who  was  despatched  from  Corinth,  the  mother 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  147 

country  of  Syracuse,  with  an  expedition  to  relieve  Sicily 
from  her  troubles  of  internal  dissension  and  dread  of  Car- 
thage. 

In  B.  C.  343  Syracuse  thus  became  again  a  republic, 
and  in  B.  C.  339  her  strength  was  tested  by  a  formidable 
Carthaginian  invasion.  An  army  of  80,000  men  landed 
from  Africa  at  Lilybseum,  but  was  defeated  by  Timoleon 
with  a  force  of  one-sixth  of  that  number.  This  brilliant 
victory  saved  Sicily,  and  Timoleon  followed  it  up  by  the 
expulsion  of  almost  all  the  "tyrants"  from  the  Greek  cities 
in  the  island,  and  the  establishment  of  democracies  in  their 
stead.  Timoleon  ruled  as  virtual  head  of  Syracuse  and 
these  other  republics  till  B.  C.  337,  when  he  died,  greatly 
regretted  by  the  people.  In  B.  C.  317  a  wealthy  citizen  of 
Syracuse,  named  Agathocles,  put  down  the  democracy 
by  force  and  treachery,  backed  by  money,  and  became 
master  not  only  of  Syracuse,  but  of  much  of  Sicily.  He 
was  a  brilliant  adventurer,  who  warred  with  success 
against  the  Carthaginians,  defeating  their  troops  in  Africa, 
and  reigning  till  B.  C.  289. 

In  B.  C.  270,  after  factious  times  with  a  democracy, 
Hieron  II,  a  descendant  of  Gelon,  was  chosen  King,  and 
long  reigned  with  great  advantage  to  his  country.  In 
B.  C.  263  he  made  a  treaty  with  Rome,  and  remained  for 
nearly  fifty  years  her  faithful  ally,  being  master  of  South- 
east Sicily,  which  enjoyed  continued  peace  and  prosperity. 
Hiero  helped  the  Romans  after  their  disasters  of  the  sec- 
ond Punic  war,  and  died,  aged  ninety-two,  in  B.  C.  216, 
with  the  reputation  of  a  wise,  just,  and  moderate  ruler. 
With  him  ended  the  prosperity  and  the  freedom  of  Syra- 
cuse. 

His  young  and  foolish  grandson,  Hieronymus,  suc- 
ceeding to  his  power,  joined  Carthage  against  Rome,  and 
the  city  of  Syracuse  was  taken  after  the  famous  siege  of 


148      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

two  years'  duration  by  the  Romans  under  Marcellus,  B.  C. 
212.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Archimedes,  the  most 
famous  of  ancient  mathematicians,  exerted  his  inventive 
mechanical  genius  in  defense  of  his  native  city.  His  intel- 
lectual powers  were  of  the  best  kind,  combining  origin- 
ality, clearness  of  thought,  and  the  gift  of  continuous  and 
concentrated  application.  His  killing  by  the  Roman  sol- 
dier, ignorant  of  his  illustrious  personality  and  irritated  at 
the  indifference  of  the  philosopher  to  the  drawn  sword 
which  threatened  him,  is  well  known.  Syracuse  then 
became  a  town  of  the  Roman  province  of  Sicily,  and  with 
her  fall  ends  the  history  of  Greek  independence  in  the 
central  Mediterranean. 


GRECIAN    CIVILIZATION 

The  importance  of  a  nation  is  not  to  be  measured  by 
its  duration  as  an  independent  power  amongst  the  peoples 
of  the  world,  but  by  what  was  effected  in  it  for  true  free- 
dom and  civilization  within  the  limits  of  time  assigned  to 
its  political  and  intellectual  workings.  The  history  of  the 
Greeks  as  a  leading  people  is  brief,  compared  with  that  of 
many  other  nations,  for  its  grand  period  lasted  only  for 
the  Century  and  a  half  between  the  battle  of  Marathon, 
B.  C.  490,  and  the  subjugation  of  Greece  by  Philip,  of 
Macedon,  B.  C.  338;  but  the  interest  belonging  to  it  is 
enduring  and  engrossing.  Greece  gave  to  the  world  the 
first  example  of  a  democracy — the  free,  self-governing 
state  in  which  every  citizen  not  only  feels  a  personal  inter- 
est, but  can  always  take  a  personal  part,  in  the  decision  of 
questions  intimately  connected  with  his  personal  welfare 
as  a  member  of  a  political  community. 

In  Oriental  empires  there  was  only  a  master  and  his 
subjects :  in  the  Greek  commonwealths  the  people  decided 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  149 

and  acted  for  themselves,  and  were  politically  responsible 
to  themselves  alone  for  the  consequences  of  their  actions. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  condition  of  freedom 
had  much  to  do  with  the  expansion  of  the  human  mind 
and  with  the  progress  made  in  all  the  arts  of  civilization ; 
but  beyond  and  apart  from  that  stimulus  to  improvement, 
there  was  in  the  Greeks  a  special  genius,  an  inborn  spirit. 
By  "the  Greek  spirit"  we  mean  the  moral  and  intellectual 
character  belonging  to  the  best  specimens  of  the  Greek 
race — the  Athenians  and  the  Ionian  race  in  general, 
though  the  Spartans,  in  their  courage,  military  ardour, 
and  resolve  to  be  free  from  outward  domination,  claim  a 
high  place  in  the  Hellenic  world.  In  Greek  life  and  Greek 
religion  are  seen  two  great  features — the  worship  of  the 
Beautiful  and  the  worship  of  the  Human.  As  regards  the 
first,  the  Greek  mind  looked  at  the  world  only  on  its  side  of 
beauty.  The  Greek  called  the  universe  Kosmos,  i.  e., 
divine  order  or  regularity.  Greek  religion  became  in  its 
essence  "a  devotion  to  the  fine  arts.  All  man's  powers 
were  given  to  producing  works  of  the  imagination.  This 
was  the  inspiration  of  the  Greeks — the  arts  became  re- 
ligion, and  religion  ended  in  the  arts."  As  to  the  Greek 
worship  of  Humanity,  "the  Greek  had  strong  human  feel- 
ings and  sympathies.  He  threw  his  own  self  into  nature 
— humanized  it — gave  a  human  feeling  to  clouds,  forests, 
rivers,  seas.  Rising  above  the  idolatry  of  Egypt,  he  wor- 
shiped human  power,  human  beauty,  human  life.  In  his 
conception  of  a  god,  he  realized  a  beautiful  human  being — 
not  merely  animal  beauty,  but  the  intelligence  which  in- 
forms and  shines  through  beauty.  He  thus  moulded  into 
the  shape  of  gods  the  visions  of  earth,  and  made  a  glorious 
human  being  into  his  divinity.  Light,  under  the  condi- 
tions of  humanity — 'the  sun  in  human  limbs  arrayed' — 
this  was  the  centra]  object  of  Greek  worship.  The  Hindu 


150     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

worshiped  God  as  power :  the  Egyptian  as  life :  the  Greek 
as  physical  and  intellectual  beauty."  Thus,  with  a  mind 
at  once  observant  and  creative,  from  the  watching  of 
nature  the  imaginative  Greek  developed  his  mythology, 
turning  natural  effects  and  phenomena — the  rising  and 
the  setting  of  the  sun,  the  rude  northern  blast,  the  mur- 
muring of  the  fountains,  the  rustle  of  the  breeze  in  the 
foliage,  the  roar  and  movement  of  ocean,  the  quivering  of 
the  earthquakes,  the  outburst  of  the  volcano — into  the 
persons  and  action  of  the  deities  concerning  whom  the 
poets  devised  so  many  graceful  and  ingenious  fictions. 

In  general  the  Greeks  were  distinguished,  firstly,  by  a 
national  pride  in  the  unity  of  the  Hellenic  race,  as  shown 
in  a  common  language,  a  common  religion,  and  a  special 
character,  superior  to  that  which  belonged  to  other  nations, 
whom  they  regarded  as  "barbarian,"  or  non-Hellenic; 
secondly,  by  a  quickness  of  sympathy  which  made  them 
ever  ready  to  laugh  at  a  blunder,  and  to  weep  over  a  mis- 
fortune ;  to  be  indignant  at  injustice,  and  amused  at  knav- 
ery ;  to  be  awed  by  solemnity  and  tickled  by  absurdity ;  and 
thirdly,  by  a  good  taste  and  reasonable  spirit,  which  made 
them,  as  a  rule,  avoid  extremes  in  their  thoughts,  words, 
and  actions.  The  grievous  faults  which  their  history 
shows  them  to  have  possessed  were  connected  in  a  great 
measure  with  the  excitability  of  their  nature.  They  were 
very  fond  of  power,  and  unscrupulous  as  to  the  means 
of  obtaining  it ;  their  political  jealousy  gave  rise  to  sedition 
and  domestic  warfare,  especially  in  the  minor  states,  in- 
volving unjust  proscriptions  and  bloody  revolutions,  and 
brought  about  the  great  contest  of  the  Peloponnesian 
War,  which  had  effects  so  disastrous  to  the  nation.  They 
were  often  cruel,  and  had  little  regard  for  truth  when  any 
end  was  to  be  served  by  its  violation.  What  they  felt  and 
did  themselves  they  attributed  also  as  feelings  and  actions 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  151 

to  the  deities  whom  they  worshiped,  and,  having  no  high 
spiritual  standard  of  moral  goodness,  they  degenerated, 
with  the  loss  of  political  freedom,  into  a  race  of  quick- 
witted, supple,  and  sensual  slaves.  The  qualities  which 
prevented  the  Greeks,  with  all  their  patriotism,  courage, 
acuteness,  activity,  enterprise,  industry,  and  taste,  from 
becoming  the  masters  of  the  world,  which  the  Romans 
became,  were  the  fickleness  and  restlessness,  and  the  want 
of  patient  and  steady  resolution,  so  often  found  in  the 
artistic  nature. 

Though  the  gods  of  the  Greek  pantheon  were  beings 
that  owed  their  origin  to  the  observed  phenomena  of 
nature,  they  were,  to  the  Greeks,  individuals — not  abstrac- 
tions, nor  allegories,  nor  symbols.  The  earlier  divinities 
of  Greece  clearly  represent  natural  powers.  Among  these 
were  Ouranos  or  Uranus  (a  name  which  is  simply  the 
Greek  for  heaven),  Ge  or  Gaia  (the  earth),  Okeanos 
(ocean),  Helios  (the  sun),  Selene  (the  moon),  Cronos 
(time).  Ouranos  and  Gaia  bore  a  family  of  gigantic 
sons  and  daughters  called  Titans,  who  were  overthrown 
by  the  race  of  gods,  of  whom  Zeus  was  the  chief — this 
"War  of  the  gods"  being  supposed  to  represent  the  victory 
of  reason  and  intelligence  over  the  rude  forces  of  nature. 

Zeus,  identified  with  the  Roman  Jupiter,  then  appears 
as  the  head  of  the  new  divinities  (the  Olympic  gods), 
who  embody  a  spiritual  meaning,  retaining,  however, 
natural  elements  and  having  a  fixed  relation  to  the  powers 
of  nature.  Zeus  has  his  lightnings  and  clouds.  Hera, 
wife  of  Zeus,  is  goddess  of  maternity  (the  productive 
power  of  nature).  Zeus  is  also  the  political  god,  the 
protector  of  morals  and  of  hospitality.  Poseidon  has  in 
his  character  the  wildness  of  the  sea;  to  him,  too,  is 
ascribed  the  production  of  the  horse — no  doubt  from  the 
white-crested  waves  that  race  on  the  main.  Hades,  the 


152      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

god  of  the  lower  world,  the  abode  of  the  shades  or  disem- 
bodied spirits,  was  brother  of  Zeus  and  Poseidon — all 
three  being  children  of  Cronos  and  Rhea  (the  "Great 
Mother"  or  "Mother  of  the  gods"),  also  called  Cybele. 
In  the  new  order  of  deities  Zeus  is  represented  as  in  a  sense 
ruler  of  the  other  gods,  but  so  that  they  are  left  free  to 
display  their  own  particular  characters. 

Among  the  other  chief  deities  were  Ares,  god  of  war ; 
Apollo  (Phoebus),  god  of  prophecy,  music,  and  later 
identified  with  the  Sun-god  (Helios).  The  worship  of 
Apollo  was  really  the  chief  worship  of  the  Greeks,  as  the 
god  of  poetry,  light,  and  intellectual  power.  He  was  the 
discerner  and  declarer  of  truth,  as  god  of  prophecy;  the 
god  of  the  song  and  dance,  in  which  men  show  a  free  and 
joyous  soul.  In  Greek  art,  Apollo  appears  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  manly  beauty,  as  in  the  famous  statue  known  as 
the  "Apollo  Belvedere"  in  the  Vatican  Palace  at  Rome. 
Artemis  is  the  great  maiden-goddess,  protectress  of  the 
young,  devoted  to  the  chase,  and  later,  as  twin-sister  of 
Apollo,  identified  with  the  moon.  Hermes  was  the  herald 
or  ambassador  of  the  gods,  and  so  is  represented  as  patron 
of  eloquence,  prudence,  shrewdness,  and  as  the  promoter 
of  intercourse,  commerce,  and  wealth.  Athena,  the  great 
goddess  of  Athens,  was  the  embodiment  of  power  and  wis- 
dom, the  patroness  of  political  communities,  and  of  the 
arts  that  support  the  state,  such  as  agriculture,  weaving, 
etc. ;  the  maintainer  of  law  and  order ;  she  also  was  a 
maiden-goddess.  Demeter  was  goddess  of  the  earth  and 
its  fruits.  Aphrodite,  goddess  of  love  and  beauty,  was 
especially  worshiped  in  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  Hephaes- 
tus, god  of  fire,  was  the  inventor  and  patron  of  artistic 
works  in  the  metals.  Dionysos,  the  youthful  and  hand- 
some god  of  wine,  was  held  to  be  the  patron  of  the  tragic 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  153 

drama,  which  in  Greece  arose  out  of  the  choruses  sung 
at  his  festivals. 

Minor  deities  included  the  nine  Muses,  the  three 
Graces,  and  an  endless  variety  of  Nymphs  of  the  sea,  the 
forests,  and  the  streams  and  fountains,  with  monsters 
hideous,  grotesque,  and  fearful.  Among  the  Greek 
divinities  are  Hestia,  goddess  of  the  domestic  hearth, 
whose  sacred  fire  burned  on  an  altar  in  the  building 
called  the  Prytaneum  (the  town-hall  of  a  Greek  com- 
munity), kept  constantly  alight,  or,  if  extinguished,  re- 
kindled only  by  the  burning-glass  or  by  friction,  in  the 
primitive  way,  with  wood.  She  was  a  maiden-goddess, 
the  guardian-deity  of  hearth  and  home,  and  at  her  altar 
in  the  inner  part  of  every  house  was  the  shelter  and  safety 
of  our  mediaeval  sanctuary  for  strangers,  fugitives,  and 
offending  slaves. 

The  deities  had  temples  built  in  their  honor,  with  the 
statue  of  the  particular  god  or  goddess  placed  on  a  pedestal 
within  a  central  holy  chamber,  or  shrine.  In  front  of  the 
statue  was  the  altar,  for  the  presentation  of  free-will  offer- 
ings, consisting  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  or  of  the  burnt 
sacrifice  of  animals  devoted  to  the  worship  of  that  god 
or  goddess.  Such  offerings  were  also  made  to  appease 
the  anger  of  the  deity,  or  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow,  or  at  an 
oracle's  command,  or  for  success  in  any  enterprise  in  hand. 
Sprinkling  of  salted  meal  and  pouring  out  (libation)  of 
wine  accompanied  the  sacrifice,  at  which  the  priest  wore  a 
wreath  made  of  the  foliage  of  a  tree  consecrated  to  the 
special  deity  worshipped.  Dances  and  sacred  hymns  and 
invocations  were  also  used,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
service  held. 

Greek  superstition  sought,  through  soothsayers,  the 
knowledge  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  the  gods,  by  observa- 
tion of  the  flight  and  song  of  birds,  and  mainly  by  inspec- 


154      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

tion  of  the  healthy  or  disordered  state  of  the  inward  parts 
of  animals  that  had  been  slain  in  sacrifices.  A  great 
feature  in  Greek  history  is  the  belief  in  the  revelation  of 
the  will  of  gods  by  oracles,  or  divine  utterances,  delivered 
at  special  places  where  special  gods  might  be  consulted 
through  the  priests  attached  to  the  spot.  The  great 
oracles  of  Greece  were  those  of  Apollo  at  Delphi,  in  Phocis, 
and  of  Zeus  at  Dodona,  in  Epirus.  Delphi  was  a  town 
on  the  southern  slope  of  Mount  Parnassus,  near  to  the  spot 
where,  from  between  two  peaked  cliffs,  the  limpid  spring 
of  Castalia  issued.  The  temple  of  Apollo  was  resorted  t© 
by  messengers  sent  by  cities,  nations,  tribes,  and  individ- 
uals, anxious  to  learn  futurity,  and  bringing  offerings  as 
a  fee  for  knowledge  given. 

The  priestess  of  the  oracle  (called  Pythia,  from  Pytho, 
ancient  name  of  Delphi)  sat  on  a  tripod,  over  a  fissure  in 
the  ground  at  the  center  of  the  temple.  An  intoxicating 
gas  issued  from  the  opening,  and  caused  the  priestess, 
when  she  breathed  it,  to  rave  in  dark  sayings,  which  the 
attendant  priests  wrote  down  in  verse,  and  furnished,  as 
Apollo's  revelation,  to  the  person  sent  in  consultation. 
The  doubtful  meaning  of  these  oracular  responses  has 
become  proverbial  from  many  instances  in  Grecian  history. 
The  responses  at  Dodona  were  founded  on  the  rustling 
sounds  caused  by  the  wind  among  the  foliage  of  holy 
trees. 

The  famous  "Eleusinian  Mysteries"  were  celebrated  at 
the  town  of  Eleusis,  in  Attica,  in  honor  of  the  goddess 
Demeter.  They  were  of  solemn  import,  with  a  secret, 
awe-inspiring  ceremonial,  at  which  mysterious  doctrines 
were  taught  by  priests  to  the  initiated  worshippers,  includ- 
ing that  of  an  immortal  life  for  the  soul  of  man.  The 
Dionysia  at  Athens  was  the  great  spring  festival  of 
Dionysos,  resorted  to  by  visitors  from  every  quarter  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  155 

Greek  world.  The  whole  city  was  given  up  to  crowds, 
processions,  and  masquerade-attire,  with  gay  and  noisy 
revelry  of  wine  and  music.  The  interest  of  the  modern 
world  in  these  proceedings  conies  from  the  fact  that  at 
this  festival  there  were  performed,  in  competition  for 
prizes,  in  the  great  theater  of  Dionysos,  those  tragedies 
and  comedies  of  which  we  have  such  splendid  specimens 
in  the  extant  Attic  literature.  The  Panathenaea  was 
another  famous  festival  at  Athens,  in  honor  of  Athene- 
Pallas,  guardian  goddess  of  the  state.  In  this  imposing 
pageant  Athenian  maidens,  bearing  a  sacred  gold-em- 
broidered garment  (woven  by  them  for  the  goddess,  and 
called  the  Peplus),  took  a  chief  part. 

Amongst  the  great  special  features  of  Greek  life  were 
the  four  national  assemblies,  composed  of  visitors  from 
every  part  of  the  Hellenic  world,  known  as  the  Olympic, 
Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isthmian  games.  These  were 
really  great  religious  festivals,  at  which  the  Hellenes  met 
in  a  common  worship,  to  share  in  a  common  amusement. 
The  Olympic  festival  was  celebated  in  honor  of  Zeus,  at 
the  Plain  of  Olympia,  in  Elis,  every  four  years.  Greek 
chronology  begins  in  B.  C.  776,  the  year  in  which  a  man 
of  Elis,  named  Coraebus,  gained  the  victory  in  the  foot- 
race at  these  games.  Tha  Pythian  festival  was  in  Apollo's 
honor,  held  near  Delphi,  in  the  third  year  of  each  Olym- 
piad. The  Nemean,  in  honor  of  Zeus,  was  held  every 
second  year,  in  the  valley  of  Nemea,  in  Argolis.  The 
Isthmian,  in  honor  of  Poseidon,  took  place  also  every 
second  year,  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  At  these  national 
contests  prizes  were  given  to  the  victorious  competitors  in 
running,  leaping,  wrestling,  boxing,  and  chariot-racing, 
and  also  (in  the  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isthmian)  for 
music  and  poetry.  The  prize  was  a  simple  wreath,  placed 
on  the  victor's  head,  and  made  of  the  special  sacred  plant 


or  tree  belonging  to  the  god — at  the  Olympian  games,  of 
olive ;  at  the  Pythian,  of  bay ;  at  the  Nemean,  of  parsley ; 
at  the  Isthmian,  of  pine.  The  honor  of  this  wreath  was 
great,  bringing  fame  to  the  victor's  native  city,  and  re- 
nown, through  sculptor  and  through  poet,  to  himself. 

These  great  gatherings  of  people  of  Hellenic  race  were 
of  a  nature  and  importance  peculiar  to  the  nation  and  its 
culture.  The  arts  and  the  graces  of  civilization  were  all 
concerned  in  them,  and  "to  the  sacred  ground  flocked  all 
the  power,  and  the  rank,  and  the  wealth,  and  the  intellect 
of  Greece."  Apart  from  the  athletic  sports  of  the  occa- 
sion, the  meeting  did  for  Greece  what,  in  the  modern 
world,  is  done  by  the  art  exhibition,  the  scientific  congress, 
the  publisher,  and  the  platform.  Works  of  the  chisel  and 
the  brush  were  shown,  ideas  exchanged,  theories  discussed, 
poems  recited,  and  philosophers  heard.  The  people  met  in 
one  grand  intellectual,  social,  artistic,  and  gymnastic 
assembly,  which  had  great  use  in  fostering  a  common 
national  pride,  a  sound  physical  training,  intellectual  vigor 
and  emulation,  and  a  healthy  desire  for  success  in  every 
kind  of  competition,  where  the  reward  consisted  chiefly  in 
the  high  opinions  won  from  fellow-men. 

The  literature  of  Greece  is  the  chief  treasure  which 
has  come  down  to  us  from  ancient  times,  apart  from  the 
Hebrew  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  and  from  the*  New 
Testament  Books.  In  original  power,  and  in  richness, 
beauty,  and  force,  it  far  surpasses  that  of  Rome,  to  whose 
writers,  indeed,  their  Greek  predecessors  served,  in  some 
styles,  as  incomparable  models  of  literary  art.  The  litera- 
ture of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  and  Phoenicia  has  all 
but  perished — the  Zend-Avesta,  containing  the  sacred 
books  of  Persia,  has  little  merit;  the  Hindu  books  called 
Vedas,  in  the  old  Sanskrit  tongue,  are  wanting  in  general 
interest  The  Sanskrit  epic  poems  called  the  Ramayana 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  157 

and  the  Mahabharata  have  beautiful  and  striking  episodes : 
the  lyric  and  the  proverbial  poetry  of  the  ancient  Hindus 
show  much  true,  tender  sentiment,  some  beautiful  descrip- 
tions of  nature,  and  not  a  little  depth  of  wisdom.  The 
Hindu  drama  has  much  merit,  but  is  not  to  be  named  with 
the  productions  of  modern  Europe  and  of  ancient  Greece. 
But,  at  their  best,  the  literary  products  of  the  Hindu  mind 
differ,  not  merely  in  degree,  but  in  kind,  not  only  in  form 
but  in  essence,  from  those  consummate  works,  those  per- 
fect specimens  of  thought  and  style,  to  which  the  Hellenic 
intellect  gave  birth. 

The  Greeks  were  the  first  people  who  gave  their  minds 
to  thinking  out  a  subject  on  a  systematic  plan.  Greek 
taste — in  its  acute  perception  of  true  elegance  and  beauty, 
its  hatred  of  extremes,  its  instinctive  love  of  symmetry 
and  fitness,  its  clear  simplicity  and  avoidance  of  false  orna- 
ment and  color — gave  to  Greek  thought  that  form  and 
finish  in  expression  which  the  best  moderns  can  rarely 
attain  to,  and  can  never  hope  to  surpass.  For  the  thought 
of  Greek  writers  it  is  enough  to  say  that  what  they  did,  in 
some  great  branches,  such  as  history,  logic,  and  ethics, 
forms  the  foundation  still  for  modern  treatment  of  those 
topics.  The  language — wondrous  for  beauty,  wealth, 
precision,  power,  and  grace — which  the  Hellenic  genius 
moulded  into  the  finest  instrument  of  human  utterance 
that  the  world  has  ever  known,  enabled  this  most  creative 
and  original  of  nations  to  give  to  its  conceptions  the  fittest 
garb  of  literary  art. 

The  two  great  Homeric  poems — the  "Iliad"  and  the 
"Odyssey" — are,  of  European  literature,  the  first  in  time, 
and  of  all  literature  the  highest  in  merit,  among  composi- 
tions in  epic  style.  They  were  productions  of  Greek  in- 
tellect, dating  perhaps  from  B.  C.  800  or  900,  handed  down 
orafly  in  public  recitation,  changed  in  transmission,  and 


158     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

first  written,  in  their  present  form,  under  Pisistratus  at 
Athens  in  the  Sixth  Century  B.  C.  They  represent,  in 
language,  Ionian  Greek,  with  a  slight  mixture  of  JEolic, 
as  it  was  spoken  and  written  about  B.  C.  600.  In  Greece 
these  writings  were  the  foundation  of  poetical  literature, 
and  were  taught  in  every  school ;  for  all  time  since  they 
have  been,  in  their  full,  fresh  beauty,  stores  of  poetic 
imagery,  models  of  epic  art.  Another  school  of  epic 
poetry  began  with  Hesiod,  born  at  the  village  of  Ascra, 
in  Boeotia,  about  the  middle  of  the  Eighth  Century  B.  C. 
His  poem,  "Works  and  Days,"  is  a  didactic,  homely  com- 
position, dealing  with  daily  life,  religious  lore,  and  moral 
precepts.  This  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  Homeric 
epic,  whose  themes  are  chiefly  deeds  of  gods  and  heroes, 
lit  up  with  all  the  splendor  of  imaginative  power. 

New  styles  of  poetry  came  into  existence  between  the 
Eighth  and  the  Sixth  Centuries  B.  C.,  as  the  Hellenic 
world  passed  from  the  monarchy  of  the  times  that  epic 
poetry  represented  to  the  republics  where  democracies  or 
oligarchs  held  sway.  The  verse  called  Elegy  expressed, 
in  ancient  Greece,  the  poet's  views  on  home  and  foreign 
politics,  or  social  life,  or  gave  his  feelings  vent  in  joy  or 
grief  for  what  was  passing  in  the  world  around  him.  Its 
chief  exponents  were  the  Ionian  Tyrtseus,  who  lived  and 
wrote  at  Sparta  about  B.  C.  680,  urging  the  Spartans,  in 
lays  of  which  some  parts  remain,  to  war  against  her  foe- 
men  of  Messene;  Mimnermus,  of  Smyrna  (B.  C.  630- 
600),  a  poet  of  the  doleful  side  of  elegy;  Solon,  the  great 
Athenian  (B.  C.  640-560),  who  wrote  poetry,  sportive 
and  sober,  both  before  and  after  his  grand  political 
achievement;  Theognis,  of  Megara  (flourished  about  B.  C. 
540),  a  writer  of  political  and  festive  verse;  and  Simon- 
ides,  of  Ceos,  who  lived  at  Athens  and  at  Syracuse  (with 
Hiero  I)  about  B.  C.  520-470.  He  wrote  the  elegy  on 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  159 

those  who  fell  at  Marathon,  and  the  epigrams  upon  the 
tomb  of  the  Spartans  at  Thermopylae,  and  was  renowned 
for  sweetness  and  for  finish  in  his  style.  Most  of  the 
elegiac,  as  of  the  lyric  and  iambic,  poetry  of  old  Greece 
was  lost  in  the  destruction  of  the  great  library  at  Alexan- 
dria in  the  Seventh  Century  A.  D. 

Iambic  verse  was  used  for  satirical  poems,  and  those 
of  weightier  and  sharper  thought  than  elegy  embodied. 
In  this  style  Archilochus,  of  Paros  (about  B.  C.  710-680), 
was  noted  for  the  bitterness  and  power  of  his  invective; 
Solon  employed  it  in  political  discussion. 

The  lyric  poetry  of  old  Greece — the  verse  expressing 
human  passion,  and,  with  the  Greeks,  invariably  sung  to 
the  music  of  the  lyre — this  was  one  of  the  greatest  glories 
of  her  literary  art,  and  its  almost  total  loss  is,  perhaps,  the 
one  most  to  be  lamented  in  the  history  of  letters.  Of  verse 
in  this  style  the  chief  singers  were  Alcman,  Sappho, 
Alcaeus,  Anacreon,  Simonides.  of  Ceos,  and  Pindar — all 
save  the  last,  known  to  us  only  in  mere  fragments  or  by 
Roman  imitations.  Of  these,  Alcman  of  Sparta  (about 
B.  C.  660),  wrote  hymns  and  love-songs,  marriage  odes, 
and  verse  for  festival  processions;  Sappho  of  Lesbos, 
flourished  about  B.  C.  600,  has  given  her  name  to  the 
stanza  (Sapphic)  familiar  to  us  in  the  odes  of  Horace, 
and  has  the  highest  fame  for  passion,  energy,  and  music 
in  her  poetry;  Alcseus,  of  Mitylene  (in  Lesbos),  wrote 
about  B.  C.  610-580,  gave  his  name  to  the  well-known 
Alcaic  stanza  of  Horace's  odes,  and  wrote  on  war,  love, 
drinking,  politics,  and  gods,  with  free  and  graceful  gaiety 
and  force;  Anacreon  of  Teos  (on  the  Ionian  coast  of  Asia 
Minor),  lived  about  B.  C.  520,  and  wrote  with  easy  grace 
and  sweetness  on  love,  and  wine,  and  music ;  Simonides  of 
Ceos  was  very  popular  in  lyric  strains  for  hymns  and 
dirges,  and  odes  on  victors  in  the  games. 


160     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Pindar,  who  lived  from  about  B.  C.  520-440,  has 
reached  us  in  a  fairly  complete  form  as  regards  one  por- 
tion of  his  poems — the  Epinicia,  or  triumphal  odes  written 
for  victors  in  the  Olympian,  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isth- 
mian games.  This  great  poet  was  born  near  Thebes, 
trained  for  his  art  at  Athens,  and  accepted  by  all  Greece 
as  a  national  writer  of  the  lyric  school.  It  is  impossible 
for  modern  readers  of  his  difficult  writing  to  judge  fairly 
of  his  merits  as  a  poet,  destitute  as  we  are  of  the  music 
which  gave  full  effect  to  the  words,  and  of  his  poetry  in 
other  lyric  forms. 

The  Greek  drama  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  highest 
expression  of  Attic  literary  genius.  The  plays,  very  dif- 
ferent from  ours,  were  exhibited  in  immense  structures 
open  to  the  air,  and  in  the  daytime;  and  at  Athens  the 
expense  of  the  performance  was  borne  by  some  wealthy 
man.  It  was  the  worship  of  Dionysos  that  gave  rise  both 
to  tragedy  and  comedy.  From  the  hymns  sung  in  chorus 
at  his  festivals  arose  the  drama,  or  "poetry  of  action," 
when  the  leader  of  the  chorus  assumed  the  character  of 
Dionysos,  and  described  with  gestures  some  exploit  of  the 
god,  or  enacted  the  part  of  any  person  engaged  in  the 
adventure  which  his  words  described.  The  exclamations 
and  remarks  of  the  chorus  would,  with  the  leader's  utter- 
ances, form  dialogues,  and  here  is  found  the  germ  of  what 
we  call  a  play.  Thespis,  the  father  of  Greek  tragedy,  at 
a  festival  of  the  year  B.  C.  535,  introduced  an  independent 
actor,  with  whom  the  leader  of  the  chorus  held  a  dialogue 
during  the  pauses  of  the  choral  song. 

Phrynichus  (flourished  about  B.  C.  510-480)  is  re- 
garded by  many  as  the  real  inventor  of  tragedy,  from  his 
improvements  in  the  character  of  the  subjects  treated. 
Instead  of  the  stories,  often  of  a  ludicrous  turn,  about 
Dionysos,  he  selected  as  his  theme  some  story  of  the  heroic 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  161 

age  of  Greece,  or  some  event  of  recent  times.  The  intro- 
duction by  the  poet  ^Eschylus,  born  B.  C.  525,  of  a  sec- 
ond actor,  making  the  dialogue  entirely  independent  of  the 
chorus,  gave  its  true  lasting  form  to  the  dramatic  art. 
Action  could  now  be  represented  in  completeness  before 
the  eye,  accompanied  by  speech,  and  this  is  the  drama  as 
it  has  been  in  Europe  ever  since  the  age  of  Pericles  in 
Greece.  The  works  of  Thespis  and  of  Phrynichus  are 
lost,  and  the  grand  Greek  tragedy  survives  in  a  few  of 
probably  the  best  plays  of  its  chief  authors,  ^Eschylus, 
Sophocles,  and  Euripides,  who  succeeded  each  other  in  the 
order  given,  Sophocles  being  born  in  B.  C.  495,  and  Eurip- 
ides in  B.  C.  480.  ^schylus  had  grandeur,  Sophocles 
grace,  and  Euripides  subtlety  and  pathos.  The  word 
tragedy  means  goat-song,  as  connected  with  the  offering 
of  a  goat  (an  animal  injurious  to  vines)  to  Dionysos 
before  the  singing  of  the  choral  hymn.  From  rude  begin- 
nings Attic  genius  thus  carried  the  dramatic  art,  within 
half  a  century's  space,  to  the  highest  point  of  its  develop- 
ment in  ancient  times. 

Greek  comedy  (meaning  the  village-song,  from  the 
hymn  sung  and  the  jokes  made  at  the  rustic  festivals  of 
Dionysos)  sprang  from  the  same  worship  of  the  god  of 
wine  as  tragedy.  The  comic  drama  began  earlier,  and 
was  longer  in  arriving  at  perfection  than  the  tragic.  The 
farces  of  Susarion  of  Megara  were  introduced  into  Attica 
about  B.  C.  580,  but  the  first  great  writer  in  Athenian 
comedy  is  Cratinus  (his  first  play  appearing  B.  C.  454) , 
who  used  that  style  of  drama  as  a  means  of  personal  satire, 
and  for  the  censure  of  political  shortcomings.  He  was 
followed  by  Eupolis  (his  first  play  appearing  about  B.  C. 
430),  who  is  declared  to  have  been  great  in  elegance  of 
style  and  bitterness  of  satire.  The  works  of  these  two 
dramatists  are  lostt  but  we  have  the  means  of  personally 
Voi,.  i  — ii 


162      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

judging  of  the  Attic  comedy  in  the  eleven  extant  plays  of 
one  of  its  greatest  authors,  Aristophanes.  He  flourished 
between  about  B.  C.  425  and  388,  and  his  plays  are  marked 
by  fanciful  extravagance,  delicate  humor,  keen  satire, 
beautiful  poetry,  and  gross  expression — a  medley  of 
incongruous  display,  pervaded  by  a  serious  purpose,  and 
directed  by  genius  of  a  high  and  very  peculiar  order. 
Thus  far  the  Attic  comedy  is  known  as  the  "Old  Comedy," 
consisting  of  plays  which  were  mainly  vehicles  of  political 
satire  and  personal  attack,  and  of  this  alone  have  we  any 
complete  specimens  left.  The  "Middle  Comedy,"  which 
flourished  from  about  B.  C.  390-320,  dealt  rather  in  criti- 
cism on  literature  and  philosophy,  and  was  succeeded  by 
the  "New  Comedy,"  most  nearly  answering  to  the  modern 
comic  drama,  or  the  "comedy  of  manners."  The  best 
writers  of  this  school  came  between  about  B.  C.  320  and 
250,  and  of  one  of  them,  Menander,  we  can  partly  judge 
in  the  plays  of  his  Roman  imitator  or  translator,  Terence. 
He  is  credited  with  great  elegance  of  style  and  with  abun- 
dant humor.  Menander  died  at  Athens  in  B.  C.  291. 
Diphilus  and  Philemon,  contemporary  with  him,  were  also 
eminent  writers  in  his  vein. 

Poetry,  with  the  Greeks,  had  reached  perfection  before 
real  literary  prose  appeared  at  all.  The  first  great  his- 
torian, Herodotus,  was  born  at  the  Dorian  city  of  Hali- 
carnassus,  in  the  southwest  of  Asia  Minor,  in  B.  C.  484. 
He  was,  at  any  rate  in  culture  and  in  language,  an  Ionian 
Greek,  and  lived  at  Athens  for  some  years  about  B.  C. 
445,  in  the  best  part  of  the  age  of  Pericles.  His  great 
work,  in  nine  books,  on  the  wars  between  the  Greeks  and 
Persians,  contains  a  geographical,  social,  and  historical 
account  of  much  of  the  civilized  world  of  Europe,  Africa, 
and  Asia,  through  which  the  author  traveled  during  many 
years.  The  style  of  Herodotus  is  charming  in  its  clear- 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  163 

ness,  liveliness,  and  grace,  and  modern  research  has  con- 
stantly confirmed  what  he  relates  on  matters  subject  to  his 
personal  observation.  Thucydides,  the  Athenian,  one  of 
the  greatest  of  all  historians,  was  born  in  B.  C.  471,  and 
wrote  in  eight  books  (the  last  unfinished)  an  account  of 
much  of  the  great  Peloponnesian  War,  which  occurred  in 
his  own  time.  He  is  renowned  for  the  accuracy  of  his 
statements,  the  depth  and  acuteness  of  his  philosophical 
remarks,  and  the  brevity,  vigor,  and  energy  of  his  style. 
Xenophon,  the  Athenian,  lived  from  about  B.  C.  430-350, 
and  has  a  pleasing,  perspicuous,  and  easy  method  of  writ- 
ing on  historical  and  other  subjects.  His  Hellenica 
("Greek  Events")  takes  up  the  history  where  Thucydides 
ends,  and  brings  it  down  to  the  battle  of  Mantinea,  B.  C. 
362.  The  Cyropaedia  ("training  of  Cyrus")  is  a  political 
romance  about  Cyrus,  founder  of  the  Persian  monarchy. 
Xenophon's  most  famous  and  attractive  work  is  the  Anab- 
asis, an  account  in  seven  books  of  the  expedition  of  the 
10,000  Greeks  in  Asia,  B.  C.  401-399.  The  Memorabilia 
contains  an  account  of  Socrates  and  his  teaching,  exhibited 
in  conversations  between  the  philosopher  and  various 
hearers. 

From  history  we  pass  to  oratory,  which  reached  in 
Pericles  a  height  that  we  can  judge  of  now  only  by  frag- 
ments reported  by  Thucydides  and  others.  The  names  of 
the  great  Attic  orators  are  Antiphon,  Andocides,  Lysias, 
I  socrates,  Isseus,  Hypereides,  JEschines,  and  Demos- 
thenes, the  last  being  esteemed  one  of  the  greatest  masters 
of  the  art  that  men  have  ever  heard. 

The  two  great  philosophical  writers  of  Greece  are 
Plato  and  Aristotle.  Plato,  the  Athenian,  the  greatest 
pupil  of  Socrates,  flourished  for  fifty  years,  from  about 
B.  C.  400-350,  and  is  the  finest  artist  in  the  handling  of 
dialogue  for  philosophical  discussion  that  has  ever  lived. 


164      ANGIENf  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

His  style  is  a  poetic  prose  of  wondrous  beauty,  ease,  and 
grace,  Aristotle,  of  Stagira,  in  Thrace,  lived  from  B.  C. 
384-322 ;  he  was  the  private  tutor  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
He  lived  at  Athens  for  over  ten  years  in  the  last  part  of  his 
life,  and  there  wrote  the  extensive  works  which  have  come 
down  to  us  under  his  name.  Of  all  the  writings  of 
antiquity  those  of  Aristotle  have  most  directly  and  exten- 
sively influenced  the  thought  of  the  modern  world.  He 
discussed  nearly  every  subject  known  to  mankind  as  the 
world  was  then.  He  wrote  on  rhetoric,  ethics,  politics, 
poetry,  and  natural  history,  and  was  the  founder  of  logic, 
or  the  science  of  reasoning,  and  inventor  of  the  syllogistic 
process  in  discussion.  His  system  of  philosophy  main- 
tained its  ground  in  Europe  until  the  last  half  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century  A.  D.  For  twenty  years  (B.  C.  367- 
347,  the  year  of  Plato's  death)  in  the  early  part  of  his 
life  Aristotle  lived  at  Athens,  and  was  the  greatest  of  the 
pupils  of  Plato.* 

The  Ionian,  Thales  of  Miletus,  on  the  southwest  coast 
of  Asia  Minor,  one  of  the  "Seven  Wise  Men"  of  Greece, 
lived  from  about  B.  C.  630-540.  He  was  a  founder  in 
Greece  of  the  study  of  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  is 
said  to  have  visited  Egypt,  and  to  have  derived  thence 
some  of  his  mathematical  knowledge.  In  explaining  the 
origin  of  the  universe  he  taught  that  water  was  the  element 
from  which  all  things  originated,  and  into  which  all  would 
be  finally  resolved.  Anaximander  of  Miletus  (lived  B.  C. 
610-547)  succeeded  Thales  in  the  Ionian  school  of  philoso- 
phy. He  was  a  great  observer  of  nature,  and  devoted  to 
mathematics,  astronomy,  and  geography.  Pythagoras  of 
Samos  flourished  about  B.  C.  540-510.  He  is  credited 
with  geometrical  discoveries,  undoubtedly  held  the  doc- 
trine of  the  transmigration  of  souls,  and  was  a  man  of 

*See  volume  of  World's  Great  Philosophers. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  165 

great  powers.  The  blind  belief  of  his  followers  in  all  that 
he  asserted  passed  into  the  famous  proverb,  "Ipse  dixit" 
(himself  said  it).  Hippocrates  of  Cos  (lived  about  B.  C. 
460-360)  was  the  greatest  physician  of  ancient  times. 
The  writings  extant  under  his  name  were  mostly  composed 
by  his  disciples.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  thought  and 
extensive  experience,  whose  medical  theories  contain  much 
good  sense  and  truth.  The  famous  saying,  "Life  is  short 
.and  Art  is  long,"  is  one  of  his  maxims. 

The  Ionian,  Anaxagoras  of  Clazomenae  lived  from 
B.  C.  500-428,  and  passed,  from  an  early  manhood  to 
middle  age,  thirty  years  at  Athens  as  the  close  friend  and 
the  instructor  of  Pericles,  Euripides,  and  others.  The 
great  advance  made  by  Anaxagoras  in  seeking  out  the 
origin  of  things  was  this — that  whereas  his  predecessors 
referred  all  things  to  some  pre-existing  form  of  matter 
(as  Thales  did  to  water),  he  sought  the  final  cause  in 
Mind  (Greek  nous),  Intelligence,  or  Thought.  For  thus 
advancing  what  was  much  like  the  idea  of  the  One  God, 
Anaxagoras  was  accused  at  Athens  of  atheism,  or  refusal 
of  belief  in  any  god ;  his  offense  really  being,  in  Athenian 
eyes,  his  denial  of  the  Sun-god,  Apollo.  He  was  con- 
demned to  death  in  B.  C.  450,  but,  through  the  eloquent 
intercession  of  Pericles,  the  sentence  was  commuted  to  a 
fine  and  banishment  from  Athens. 

Socrates,*  the  great  Athenian  philosopher,  lived  from 
B.  C.  469-399,  a  period  covering  much  of  the  age  of  Per- 
icles, and  the  whole  time  of  the  Peloponnesian  War.  No 
man  of  ancient  times  is  better  known  to  us  in  his  person, 
character,  and  teaching,  though  he  left  nothing  written, 
and  what  we  know  is  derived  from  the  affectionate  regard 
of  his  illustrious  pupil,  Plato,  and  his  devoted  admirer, 
Xenophon. 

volume  of  World's  Great  Philosophers, 


166      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

In  the  later  period  of  the  history  of  Greece  we  find 
established  four  chief  schools  or  systems  of  philosophy. 
These  were  the  Academic,  the  Epicurean,  the  Stoic,  the 
Peripatetic.*  The  famous  sect  of  the  Cynic  philosophers, 
which  was  founded  at  Athens  about  B.  C.  390  by  a  disciple 
of  Socrates  named  Antisthenes,  as  is  also  the  most  cele- 
brated adherent  of  this  unamiable  system  of  the  Cynics, 
Diogenes  of  Sinope,  both  fully  treated  in  the  volume 
World's  Great  Philosophers. 

The  four  fine  arts  are  architecture,  sculpture,  painting, 
and  music.  Of  Greek  music  we  know  little:  of  Greek 
painting  we  read  much,  but  have  no  remains:  of  Greek 
architecture  and  sculpture  we  have  remains,  and  know 
this — that  the  ancient  Greeks  were  and  are  the  greatest 
artists  that  have  ever  lived.  The  buildings  in  which  the 
Greek  mind  and  taste  effected  their  chief  architectural 
results  were  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  here  we  find 
three  chief  styles — the  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian — dis- 
tinguished chiefly  by  the  columns  and  their  capitals.  The 
great  examples  still  surviving  in  the  Doric  order  are  the 
Temple  of  Paestum  (near  Salerno,  in  Italy),  built  in  the 
pure  Doric  style  about  the  Sixth  Century  B.  C.,  and  the 
Parthenon  (i.  e.,  "house  of  the  virgin-goddess,"  Athena, 
from  parthenos,  a  virgin),  in  the  Acropolis  or  citadel  at 
Athens,  finished,  under  the  rule  of  Pericles,  in  B.  C.  438. 
It  was  built  of  pure  white  marble  from  the  quarry  of 
Mount  Pentelicus,  near  the  city,  and  its  front  was  adorned 
with  the  sculptures  of  Phidias,  of  which  portions  are  now 
in  the  British  Museum.  The  Parthenon  is  proverbial  as  a 
model  of  beauty,  unequaled  as  an  instance  of  what  can  be 
effected  by  the  application  of  intellect  to  stone  for  the 
production  of  an  appropriate  and  tasteful  building.  The 
architects  of  this  grand  work  were  Ictinus  and  Callicrates. 

*f  or  description  of  which,  see  Vol.  World's  Great  Philosophers. 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  167 

The  chief  Ionic  temple  was  that  of  Artemis  at  Ephesus, 
built  in  the  Sixth  Century  B.  C,  and  burned  in  B.  C.  356. 
The  richly-ornamented  Corinthian  order  is  illustrated  in 
the  "Monument  of  Lysicrates,"  and  in  the  great  temple 
of  Zeus  Olympius  at  Athens. 

If  there  be  one  art  in  which,  beyond  what  they  achieved 
in  other  ways,  this  wonderful  people,  the  ancient  Greeks, 
attained  pre-eminent  perfection,  it  was  in  the  noble  art 
of  sculpture — the  reproduction,  in  the  pure  marble  of  their 
land,  of  the  forms  of  the  lower  animals  and  man,  and  the 
representation  of  their  gods,  goddesses,  and  other  beings 
imagined  in  their  infinite  and  fanciful  mythology. 
Among  the  Greeks  the  human  form,  as  represented  in 
sculptures  still  existing,  reached  the  perfection  of  beauty 
and  symmetry.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says:  "The 
Greek  young  men  were  of  supreme  beauty.  Their  close 
curls,  their  elegantly-set  heads,  column-like  necks,  straight 
noses,  short,  curled  lips,  firm  chins,  deep  chests,  light  flanks, 
large  muscles,  small  joints,  were  finer  than  anything  we 
ever  see.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  the  human  shape 
will  ever  present  itself  again  in  a  race  of  such  perfect  sym- 
metry." Such  were  the  almost  godlike  forms  that  Greek 
sculptors,  with  unrivaled  skill,  set  themselves  to  reproduce 
in  marble  for  the  honor  of  their  deities  and  the  delectation 
of  the  eyes  of  men.  Phidias  was  the  main  agent  in  what 
was  then  effected  for  the  glory  of  the  gods  and  of  the  art 
to  which  Athens  was  devoted  as  part  of  her  religion  and 
her  life.  Within  the  Parthenon  was  Phidias'  great  statue 
of  the  goddess  Athena,  over  forty  feet  in  height,  with  face, 
neck,  arms,  hands,  and  feet  of  ivory,  set  off  with  painting, 
and  her  drapery  constructed  of  small  plates  of  pure  gold. 
The  sculptures  which  adorned  the  fabric  of  the  Parthenon 
were  designed  by  Phidias,  and,  in  their  mutilated  state, 
display  much  of  their  original  loveliness  and  power.  On 


168      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  Acropolis  were  two  other  statues  of  Athena  from  the 
hand  of  Phidias — one  of  bronze,  considered  his  best  work 
by  some  ancient  critics ;  the  other  a  colossal  statue,  also  of 
bronze,  called  the  Athena  Promachos  (i.  e.,  "the  cham- 
pion-goddess," as  defender  of  Athens),  of  which  the 
helmet-crest  and  spear-point  could  be  discerned  from  far 
away  at  sea.  This  statue  represented  the  goddess  as 
holding  up  both  spear  and  shield  in  a  fighting  attitude, 
and  was  made  of  the  spoils  of  Marathon.  Another  re- 
nowned work  of  Phidias  was  his  colossal  figure  of  Zeus, 
in  the  temple  of  the  chief  Olympian  god  in  the  sacred  grove 
of  Elis  (Peloponnesus).  This  was  composed  of  ivory 
and  gold — the  face,  feet,  and  body  of  ivory,  the  hair  and 
beard  of  pure  gold,  the  eyes  of  precious  flaming  jewels. 
The  drapery  was  of  beaten  gold,  enameled  with  figures  of 
animals  and  flowers.  The  god  was  seated  on  a  sculptured 
throne  of  cedar,  inlaid  with  gold,  ivory,  ebony,  and  jewels, 
and  the  figure  was  sixty  feet  in  height  Upon  the  head 
was  a  chaplet  of  olive ;  in  the  right  hand  an  image  of  Nike 
(the  winged  goddess  of  victory),  also  of  ivory  and  gold; 
in  the  left  a  polished  sceptre,  inlaid  with  several  metals, 
and  bearing  an  eagle  (the  symbol  of  Zeus)  on  the  top. 
The  throne,  and  the  pedestal  of  the  whole,  were  adorned 
with  the  elaborate  and  beautiful  sculptures  of  mythological 
subjects.  This  marvelous  effort  of  genius  was  removed 
to  Constantinople,  and  perished  there  by  fire  in  A.  D. 

475- 

The  sculptor  and  architect,  Polycletus,  of  Sicyon,  who 

flourished  about  B.  C.  452-412,  was  one  of  the  greatest 
artists  of  that  great  age.  He  was  unsurpassed  in  the 
human  figure,  as  Phidias  was  in  the  images  of  the  gods. 
In  the  temple  of  Hera,  near  Argos,  was  his  famous  statue 
of  the  goddess,  in  ivory  and  gold,  executed  in  rivalry  of 
s/  works,  One  of  the  statues  of  Pplyqletus 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  169 

of  a  manly  youth  holding  a  spear,  and  was  so  symmetrical 
that  it  became  the  standard  of  proportion,  and  was  called 
the  Canon,  as  being  a  "rule"  or  model  of  form.  The 
Boeotian  sculptor  Myron,  who  worked  about  B.  C.  430, 
was  wonderful  in  bronze  representations  of  animals  and 
of  the  human  figure  in  difficult  and  momentary  attitudes. 
The  famous  "Discobolus"  ("quoit-thrower")  in  the  mu- 
seums of  art,  is  a  reproduction  in  marble  of  one  of  Myron's 
figures;  and  his  lowing  Cow  is  celebrated  in  the  Greek 
epigrams  as  a  perfect  work  of  the  kind.  In  a  later  time 
than  that  of  Phidias  came  Praxiteles,  of  Athens  (about 
B.  C.  350),  famous  for  the  human  form,  especially  the 
female,  in  exquisite  beauty  and  grace  of  execution.  His 
greatest  work  was  his  statue  of  Aphrodite  in  her  temple 
at  Cnidus,  in  Caria  (southwest  coast  of  Asia  Minor). 
Travelers  went  thither  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
expressly  to  see  this  masterpiece  of  sculptured  loveliness. 
This  also  perished  by  fire  at  Constantinople  in  the  Sixth 
Century  A.  D.  Scopas  of  Paros  (the  island  in  the 
Cyclades  famous  for  the  marble  used  by  many  of  these 
ancient  sculptors)  flourished  about  B.  C.  380,  and  was  a 
rival  of  Praxiteles  in  this  second  period  of  perfect  Greek 
art.  He  was  employed  on  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  Mau- 
soleum at  Halicarnassus,  of  which  a  portion  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  British  Museum.  A  famous  group  of  Scopas  rep- 
resents the  destruction  of  the  children  of  Niobe ;  a  part  of 
this  work  is  in  the  gallery  at  Florence.  Lysippus  of 
Sicyon,  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great — worked 
chiefly  in  bronze,  and  made  many  statues  of  Alexander, 
who  would  allow  no  other  artist  to  represent  him  in  sculp- 
ture. 

Of  Greek  painting  we  have  no  specimens,  but  they 
attained  great  excellence  in  the  art.     As  in  Egypt,  this 
,  of  c|ecorattiQfl  Qriginallv  accompanied  sculpture  a,n<J 


170     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

architecture  in  the  temples  and  statues  of  the  gods. 
Among  the  earlier  Greek  painters  was  Micon  of  Athens 
(about  B.  C.  460)  and  Polygnotus  of  Thasos,  who  was 
also  an  Athenian  citizen,  and  flourished  at  Athens  from 
about  B.  C.  463-430.  His  subjects  were  mostly  Homeric, 
and  were  painted  on  wooden  panels,  afterward  inserted 
into  the  walls  which  they  adorned.  Apollodorus  of 
Athens  (flourished  about  B.  C.  410)  greatly  improved 
the  art  in  coloring  and  by  knowledge  of  light  and  shade. 
Zeuxis  of  Heraclea  (probably  the  city  so  named  in 
Bithynia,  on  the  Euxine  Sea)  lived  about  B.  C.  424-400. 
He  painted  a  wonderful  picture  of  Helen  of  Troy  for  the 
temple  of  Juno  at  Croton,  and,  in  realistic  art,  is  the  hero 
of  the  story  about  the  grapes  so  naturally  painted  that  the 
birds  flew  at  the  fruit  to  peck.  His  rival,  Parrhasius  of 
Ephesus,  who  flourished  about  B.  C.  400,  and  chiefly 
painted  at  Athens,  brought  the  proportion  of  his  figures 
to  a  perfection  which  all  subsequent  artists  made  their 
model.  He  is  said,  in  the  imitative  line,  to  have  painted 
a  curtain,  apparently  drawn  in  front  of  a  picture,  so  as  to 
deceive  Zeuxis,  who  desired  him  "to  draw  it  that  he  might 
see  the  picture."  Timanthes,  of  Sicyon,  also  painted  at 
about  B.  C.  400,  and  was  the  artist  of  the  celebrated  picture 
of  the  Sacrifice  of  Iphigeneia,  in  which  her  father,  Aga- 
memnon, was  painted  with  his  face  hidden  in  his  robe. 
The  greatest  of  Greek  painters  is  said  to  have  been  Apelles, 
of  Ionia,  the  friend  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  would 
allow  none  other  to  paint  his  portrait.  He  was  especially 
skillful  in  and  devoted  to  drawing,  his  diligence  in  which 
gave  rise  to  the  proverb,  Nulla  dies  sine  linea  ("No  day 
without  at  least  a  line"  ) .  He  painted  Alexander  wielding 
a  thunderbolt,  and  the  famous  "Aphrodite  Anadyomene 
("Aphrodite  rising  up,"  i.  e.,  out  of  the  sea-foam,  accord- 
ing to  the  poets'  legend  as  to  her  creation),  in  which  the 


HISTjpRY  OF  GREECE  171 

goddess  was  shown  wringing  her  hair,  while  the  falling 
drops  made  a  translucent  silvery  veil  around  her.  Protog- 
enes  of  Caria  flourished  from  B.  C.  332  to  300,  and  resided 
chiefly  at  Rhodes,  though  he  also  visited  Athens.  He  was 
brought  into  notice  by  Apelles,  and  was  famous  for  the 
elaboration  bestowed  on  his  admirable  pictures.  Nicias 
of  Athens  worked  there  about  B.  C.  320,  and  was  a  dis- 
tinguished painter  in  encaustic,  a  style  in  which  the  colors 
were  burned  into  the  panel  by  the  application  of  heat  in 
some  form.  His  master  Euphranor  flourished  at  Athens 
about  B.  C.  336,  and  was  excellent  in  proportion  and  color- 
ings, being  also  a  distinguished  sculptor.  Pausias  of 
Sicyon  (flourished  about  B.  C.  360-330)  was  great  at 
encaustic  painting,  and  executed  beautiful  panel-pictures 
on  a  small  scale,  representing  children,  animals,  and 
flowers. 

In  the  Homeric  poems  there  is  mention  of  the  lyre 
(originally  a  three-stringed  instrument,  as  in  Egypt),  the 
flute,  and  the  Pan-pipe.  The  father  of  Greek  music  is 
said  to  have  been  Terpander  of  Lesbos,  who  lived  between 
B.  C.  700  and  B.  C.  650.  He  established  at  Sparta  the 
first  musical  school  that  existed  in  Greece.  To  the  four- 
stringed  lyre,  as  he  found  it,  Terpander  added  three 
strings,  and  the  music  of  this  improved  instrument  becume 
highly  popular.  He  was  succeeded  by  Thaletas  of  Crete, 
who  also  founded  a  musical  school  at  Sparta,  and  had  great 
influence  there,  derived  from  the  power  of  his  art  over 
the  minds  of  the  citizens  in  a  time  of  factious  strife.  There 
were  musical  contests  at  the  great  national  festivals,  and 
the  poet  Archilochus  of  Paros  (as  Terpander  also  did)  car- 
ried off  prizes  for  music  at  the  Pythian  games.  Timo- 
theus  of  Miletus  (lived  B.  C.  446-357)  was  a  celebrated 
musician,  and  added  four  strings  to  the  lyre,  making  it 
an  eleven-stringed  instrument.  He  greatly  changed 


172      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

instrumental  music,  which  became  highly  artificial  and 
intricate  under  his  treatment.  At  Athens,  in  the  time  of 
Pericles,  music  was  a  necessary  part  of  education,  and 
ignorance  of  the  art  was  held  to  be  a  disgrace.  Pericles 
encouraged  it  by  erecting  the  Odeum,  a  building  for 
rehearsals  of  the  choral  music  before  the  theatrical  per- 
formances. Flute-playing  became  very  fashionable  at  that 
epoch,  and  large  sums  were  given  for  a  single  noted  instru- 
ment. So  elaborate,  difficult,  and  artificial  did  the  exe- 
cution in  flute-playing  become,  as  to  arouse  the  hostility 
of  Aristotle  against  music  generally.  We  have  no  mate- 
rials on  which  to  ground  any  judgment  as  to  the  scientific 
character  of  the  Greek  harmony;  we  can  only  conclude 
that  a  people  so  ingenious  and  artistic  in  other  ways,  so 
devoted  to  poetry,  and  having  in  their  religious  rites  and 
social  meetings  so  many  fit  occasions  for  the  practice  of 
the  musical  art,  must  have  made  great  advances  therein. 
In  the  age  of  Pericles,  at  Athens,  the  Greek  mode  of 
life  was  marked  by  a  dignified  and  elegant  simplicity  of 
tone.  Every  free  citizen  was  one  of  the  rulers  of  the  state 
through  his  vote  in  the  assembly  and  the  law  courts;  and 
though  there  was  an  aristocracy  of  birth  and  long  descent 
in  certain  families  who  traced  their  lineage  back  to  heroic 
times,  there  was  little  exclusiveness  in  social  life.  An 
Athenian  might  be  poor,  but  if  he  had  general  ability,  wit, 
or  artistic  skill,  he  was  welcome  in  the  best  houses  of 
Athens.  The  only  occupations  worthy  of  a  freeman  were 
held  to  be  agriculture,  arms,  gymnastics,  the  fine  arts,  and 
state-duties,  retail  trade  and  handicrafts  being  mainly  in 
the  hands  of  foreigners  (who  were  heavily  taxed  by  the 
state)  and  of  slaves.  The  poorer  citizens,  who  took  their 
fees,  amounting  to  about  ten  cents  per  day,  for  their  dis- 
charge of  public  duty  as  jurors,  looked  down  on  the 
mechanic  and  tradesman,  Almost  the.  whole,  range  of 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  173 

social  pleasures  was  mixed  up  with  the  religion  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  worship  consisted  of  the  songs  and  dances,  pro- 
cessions, festivals,  dramatic  and  athletic  contests,  and  the 
people  in  general  were  satisfied  with  the  belief  in  the 
recognized  deities,  along  with  the  gratifications  involved 
in  the  observance  of  the  state-religion.  Moral  and  relig- 
ious problems  were  left  to  be  settled  by  the  philosophers 
and  the  serious-minded  minority  who  followed  them. 

The  Athenian  citizen  was  a  very  sociable  person.  He 
rose  early,  took  a  slight  meal  of  bread  and  wine,  and  went 
off  to  make  morning-calls,  or  to  attend  to  public  business 
in  the  assembly  or  the  law  court.  A  mid-day  breakfast 
was  eaten,  and  then  came  gossip  in  the  colonnades,  the 
gymnasia,  the  agora  (market-place),  and  the  studios  of 
artists,  or  a  stroll  down  to  the  harbor  called  Piraeus,  four- 
miles  distant,  connected  with  Athens  by  the  famous  Long 
Walls  built  under  the  rule  of  Pericles.  The  principal  meal 
of  the  day  was  a  four-o'clock  dinner,  at  which  the  better 
classes  ate  meat  (beef,  mutton,  kid,  or  pork),  fish  (espe- 
cially salt  fish),  wheaten  bread,  vegetables,  fruit,  and 
sweetmeats,  drinking  their  wine  mixed  in  various  propor- 
tions with  water.  Hare  was  the  favorite  game,  and 
thrushes  among  birds;  eggs,  fowls,  olive-oil,  and  cheese 
were  much  used.  The  guests  reclined  by  twos  or  threes 
on  couches,  using  their  fingers  and  spoons  for  eating,  wip- 
ing their  hands  on.  pieces  of  dough-cake,  and  washing  them 
when  dinner  was  over.  Wreaths  of  flowers  were  worn  at 
dinner-parties,  healths  drunk,  dancing-girls,  flute-girls, 
jugglers,  and  professional  jesters  introduced. 

The  Greek  dress  was  simple,  consisting  of  two  gar- 
ments only,  as  a  rule,  for  either  sex — an  under-garment 
covered  by  an  outer  flowing  robe.  Sandals  were  worn 
abroad,  bare  feet  or  slippers  being  the  use  at  home.  The 
poorer  class  lived  on  the  fruits  of  the  country — figs,  grapes, 


and  olives — cheese,  garlic,  and  barleybread,  with  occas- 
ional meat  from  the  public  sacrifices.  Greek  women  of 
the  upper  class  lived,  in  the  main,  the  secluded  life  of 
Eastern  harems  at  the  present  day,  residing  in  their  own 
apartments,  and  receiving  there  the  visits  only  of  other 
ladies,  and  of  their  nearest  male  relatives.  Wool-carding, 
weaving,  embroidery,  and  spinning  were  their  employ- 
ments ;  attendance  at  the  great  religious  festivals,  includ- 
ing an  occasional  tragic  play  at  the  Dionysia,  were  their 
amusements. 

The  Athenian  boy  went  to  school  from  seven  years 
of  age  till  sixteen,  being  attended  to  his  tutor's  by  a 
pedagogue,  which  meant  in  Greece  a  trusty  elderly  slave, 
who  exercised  an  outdoor  supervision,  and  had  nothing 
to  do  with  his  teaching.  The  schoolmaster  was  called 
grammatistes,  or  teacher  of  grammata,  or  learning,  in  the 
sense  of  literature.  Grammar  (in  his  own  tongue,  the 
only  one  thought  worthy  of  a  Greek's  study),  arithmetic, 
and  writing  were  the  rudiments;  then  came  the  learning 
by  heart  of  passages  from  the  poets,  chiefly  Homer, 
selected  with  regard  to  the  moral  lessons  to  be  derived 
from  them.  The  higher  education  was  known  as  mousike 
(i.  e.,  art  over  which  the  Muses  presided) ,  and  included  the 
literary  studies  as  well  as  what  we  call  music.  The  lyre 
was  the  favorite  instrument,  and  all  the  great  lyric  poems 
being  set  to  music,  there  was  abundant  choice  for  practice. 
Gymnastics  or  athletic  exercises  formed  the  third  and  an 
important  branch  of  youthful  training,  practiced  between 
the  ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen;  this  training  included 
running,  wrestling,  boxing,  and  military  exercises.  Thus 
was  the  Athenian  lad  prepared  to  play  his  part  in  man- 
hood as  a  citizen  and  a  soldier. 

The  great  defect  of  Greek  civilization,  according  to 
the  modern  notions  arising  from  Christianity,  was  the 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE  175 

inferior  estimation  and  treatment  awarded  to  women. 
There  were  few  Greeks  who  considered  that  women 
possessed  any  mental  power,  and  the  great  philosopher 
Aristotle  himself  discusses  the  question  as  to  whether  a 
woman  can  have  any  virtues — such  as  courage,  justice  and 
temperance.  The  Greeks,  by  this  neglect  of  mankind's 
better  half,  were  left  destitute  of  the  ennobling  influence 
which  womankind,  properly  trained  and  duly  valued,  has 
always  been  found  to  exercise  on  the  physically  stronger 
and  technically  ruling  part  of  the  race. 


HISTORY  OF  ROME 

The  greatness  of  Roman  history  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  is,  in  a  large  sense,  the  history  of  the  world  from  the 
time  of  Rome's  supremacy  down  to  the  present  day.  Out 
of  the  Roman  Empire  arose  the  modern  state  system  of 
Europe,  and  the  Roman  language,  law,  and  institutions 
are  still,  in  changed  forms,  alive  and  active  in  the  modern 
world.  The  influence  of  Palestine  on  our  religion  and  of 
Greece  on  our  art  and  literature,  have  to  a  great  extent 
been  wrought  on  us  through  Rome,  which  preserved  and 
transmitted  those  great  elements  of  our  civilization.  In 
Rome,  as  she  established  her  power,  all  ancient  history  is 
lost ;  and  out  of  Rome  all  modern  history  comes.  In  the 
history  of  Rome  we  see  how  the  power  of  a  single  small 
town  grew  into  that  of  a  moderate-sized  territory,  from 
that  into  a  country,  from  a  country  into  a  world.  It  was 
the  mission  of  Rome  in  history  thus  to  bring  all  the  civ- 
ilized peoples  of  the  West,  including  Western  Asia,  under 
one  dominion  and  one  bondage ;  and,  this  being  a  political 
condition  which  could  only  end  in  conquest  from  without, 
the  culture  which  she  had  gathered  up  into  one  vast  reser- 
voir was  given  off  in  streams  that,  in  due  season,  fertilized 
the  mental  soil  of  rude  and  restless  nations  who  stepped 
into  Rome's  place. 

Rome's  early  history,  though  of  much  later  date  than 
the  early  history  of  Greece,  is  involved  in  great  obscurity. 
The  burning  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  in  B.  C.  390  destroyed 
almost  all  the  national  records,  and  for  our  knowledge  of 
the  earlier  times  we  are  dependent  on  historians  to  whom 
the  science  of  historical  criticism  was  unknown,  and  who 

176 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  177 

derived  their  information  from  legends  embodied  in  lays, 
and  from  other  untrustworthy  sources.  The  earliest 
Roman  historian,  Fabius  Pictor,  lived  during  the  second 
Punic  War,  some  500  years  after  the  reputed  foundation  of 
Rome.  Little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  details  of 
Roman  history  for  the  first  400  years  and  more.  For 
about  300  years  before  the  Christian  era  there  are  few 
authentic  details,  and  beyond  these,  contradictions  between 
which  there  is  no  means  of  deciding. 

.  Italy  is  the  second — from  east  to  west  or  west  to  east 
— of  the  three  great  peninsulas  of  Southern  Europe.  The 
coast  is  not  greatly  indented,  nor  surrounded  by  numer- 
ous islands,  like  that  of  Greece.  One  long  chain  of  moun- 
tains runs  like  a  backbone  through  all  the  country  except 
the  wide  northern  plain,  the  valley  of  the  Po,  called  by  the 
Romans  Padus.  That  plain  was  reckoned  by  the 
Romans,  until  the  Christian  era,  as  not  being  Italian  at 
all,  but  Gallic,  and  was  called  by  them  Gallia  Cisalpina, 
or  "Gaul  on-this-side-the-Alps."  The  mention  of  Gaul 
brings  us  to  the  olden  races.  The  Gauls,  as  part  of  the 
great  Celtic  race,  were  Aryans.  South  of  the  Gauls  came 
a  people  of  uncertain  origin  named  the  Etruscans,  to  the 
west  of  the  Apennines.  The  occupation  of  the  south  of 
Italy  by  Greek  colonies  in  historical  times  has  been  related 
in  the  history  of  Greece.  The  Greeks  found  there  and  in 
part  civilized  and  absorbed  a  people  also  of  uncertain 
origin  (perhaps  Pelasgians)  called  the  lapygians.  The 
main  part  of  the  rest  of  the  peninsula,  the  center,  was  occu- 
pied by  the  great  Italian  race,  of  Aryan  stock,  and  of  near 
kindred,  as  the  language  proves,  to  the  Greeks.  Of  this 
race  there  were  two  great  branches — the  Latins  and  the 
Umbro-Sabellians,  also  called  Oscans.  The  Oscans  or 
Umbro-Sabellians  included  the  Umbrians,  Sabines,  Sam- 

nites,  ./Equians,  Volscians,  Lucanians,  and  other  tribes 
Voi,.  i  — is 


178      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

among  and  to  west  of  the  Apennines.  Sicily  was  inhabited 
in  the  west  by  a  race  of  unknown  origin  called  the  Sikan- 
ians :  the  Sikels,  who  gave  their  name  to  the  island,  were 
nearly  connected  in  race  with  the  Latins.  Sicily  was 
fought  for  by  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Greek  cities 
founded  in  Sicily:  in  the  end  the  island  became  almost 
wholly  Greek  in  speech  and  usages. 

Before  relating  the  origin,  so  far  as  it  is  known,  of 
the  early  Romans,  we  will  deal  with  that  mysterious  peo- 
ple, the  Etruscans,  who  are  interesting  both  in  themselves 
and  from  the  part  they  seem  to  have  played  in  the  rise  and 
early  history  of  Rome.  The  Etruscans  (called  by  the 
Greeks  Tyrrheni  or  Tyrseni,  and  by  themselves  Rasena) 
were  a  people  of  uncertain,  probably  mixed,  origin,  and 
became  a  very  powerful  nation  before  Rome  existed.  In 
that  early  time  they  had  extended  their  dominion  as  far  as 
the  Alps  northward,  and  Mount  Vesuvius  southward.  In 
the  early  Roman  times  their  northern  and  southern  con- 
quests had  been  lost,  and  they  were  confined  to  the  limits 
of  the  Etruria  of  the  map,  forming  a  confederacy  of 
twelve  independent  oligarchical  republics,  in  separate 
cities,  of  which  the  chief  were  named  Volaterrse,  Volsinii, 
Clusium,  Arretium,  Cortona,  Falerri,  and  Veii.  In  lan- 
guage, manners,  and  customs  they  were  quite  distinct  from 
the  Greek  and  Italian  races,  and  their  religion  was  of  a 
gloomy  kind,  involving  much  mysterious  worship  of 
infernal  deities.  Their  system  of  divination  became  in 
many  points  that  of  the  Romans.  The  civilization  of  the 
Etruscans  was  well  developed,  and  included  some  skill  in 
statuary,  painting,  and  architecture,  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  use  of  the  arch.  Many  of  the  religions  and  political 
institutions  of  Rome  were  of  Etruscan  origin.  They 
were  good  at  shipbuilding,  had  a  powerful  navy  in  early 
times,  and  carried  on  much  commerce  with  the  Greeks. 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  179 

They  were  great  workers  in  metal,  and  famous  for  mir- 
rors, candelabra,  and  other  works  in  bronze,  as  well  as 
for  necklaces  and  other  ornaments  in  gold.  The  so-called 
"Etruscan  vases,"  however,  are  now  known  to  be  produc- 
tions of  Greek  art. 

The  Sabines,  in  a  mountainous  district  of  central  Italy, 
were  always  noted  as  a  people  of  virtuous  and  simple 
habits,  deeph  religious,  faithful  to  their  word,  strong  lov- 
ers of  freedom,  and  brave  in  its  defence. 

.  The  anci  ent  Latins,  before  the  existence  of  Rome,  had 
founded  or  the  west  coast  of  central  Italy,  south  of  the 
Tiber,  a  confederation  or  league  of  thirty  towns,  of  which 
the  town  called  Alba  Longa  became  the  head. 

Out  of  these  three  nations  or  tribes — the  Latins, 
Sabines,  and  Etruscans — the  Roman  people  were  origi- 
nally formed.  The  principal  element  was  Latin,  as  the 
language  shows.  The  next  in  importance  was  the  Sabine, 
and  the  third,  in  order  both  of  time  and  of  influence,  was 
the  Etruscan. 

The  nominal  date  of  the  foundation  of  Rome  is  B.  C. 
753,  about  which  time  the  Latin  town  named  Alba  Longa 
seems  to  have  established  a  settlement  on  the  left  (south) 
bank  of  the  river  Tiber,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  sea. 
The  name  Roma  means  probably  a  march  or  border,  and 
this  Latin  settlement  would  be  made  as  an  outpost  to 
guard  their  march  or  frontier  against  the  Etruscans  on  the 
right  (north)  side  of  the  Tiber.  This  Latin  town  is 
stated  to  have  been  built  on  a  height  called  the  Palatine 
Hill,  and  we  are  to  conceive  it  as  a  collection  of  huts 
inhabited  mainly  by  husbandmen  and  shepherds.  A 
union  was  soon  made,  it  seems  likely,  with  the  people  of  a 
Sabine  town  called  Quirium  or  Curium,  existing  on  a 
neighboring  hill,  called  the  Quirinal.  At  an  early  date, 
perhaps  as  a  result  of  warfare  partially  successful  for  the 


iSo     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Etruscans,  the  third,  the  Etruscan,  element  was  admitted, 
and  the  result  was  Rome.  As  Freeman,  in  his  "General 
Sketch  of  European  History,"  says :  "This  account  sets 
forth  the  way  in  which  Rome  became  the  greatest  of  all 
cities,  namely,  by  constantly  granting  her  citizenship  both 
to  her  allies  and  to  her  conquered  (in  the  case  of  the 
Etruscans  we  must  perhaps  read  'conquering')  enemies. 
Step  by  step  the  people  of  Latium,  of  Italy,  and  of  the 
whole  civilized  world,  all  became  Romans.  This  is  what 
really  distinguishes  the  Roman  history  from  all  other  his- 
tory, and  is  what  made  the  power  of  Rome  so  great  and 
lasting." 

The  sole  fact  represented  by  the  legends  of  the  "Seven 
Kings"  of  Rome  is  that  government  began  there,  as  in  the 
early  times  of  Greece,  with  monarchy,  but  elective  mon- 
archy, not  hereditary,  as  in  Greece  and  in  modern  times. 
The  King  was  chosen  by  an  assembly  of  the  chief  men, 
and  there  was  a  senate  who  assisted  him  to  rule.  It  was 
probably  toward  the  end  of  the  monarchial  period  that  the 
Etruscans  came  into  a  share  of  power,  and  it  was  owing 
to  the  misrule  of  a  King  of  Etruscan  family,  it  appears, 
that  monarchy  at  Rome  came  to  an  end  by  his  expulsion 
through  a  popular  hatred  so  determined  that  the  Romans 
never  afterward  could  bear  even  the  name  of  "King,"  and 
a  republic  or  commonwealth  was  established.  The  date  of 
this  may  be  taken  as  about  B.  C.  500,  in  default  of  all  cer- 
tainty. 

The  genius  of  the  Roman  people  seems  to  have  been 
shown  at  a  very  early  period  of  their  history  by  the  organ- 
ization of  the  citizens  on  a  military  basis,  according  to 
which  the  state  was  treated,  in  the  person  of  its  grown-up 
males,  as  an  army,  and  every  man  was  liable  to  serve  in 
war.  As  the  city  grew  in  numbers  by  the  immigration  of 
strangers,  and  the  admission  of  allies  or  incorporation  of 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  181 

subjects,  two  principal  classes  of  the  citizens  became 
developed — the  famous  Patricians  and  Plebeians.  The 
Patricians  were  probably  those  descended  from  the 
original  citizens  of  the  united  Latin,  Sabine,  and  Etruscan 
town,  and  the  Plebeians  the  descendants  of  those  after- 
ward admitted.  The  internal  history  of  Rome  for  several 
hundred  years  consists  mainly  of  the  account  of  struggles 
between  these  two  orders — the  Patricians  and  Plebeians. 
The  Patricians  alone  were  at  first  admissible  to  the  great 
governing  body  called  the  Senate,  and  they  kept  in  their 
hands  all  the  high  offices  of  state,  the  higher  degrees  of 
the  priesthood,  and  the  ownership  of  the  public  lands.  The 
two  orders  were  not  allowed  to  intermarry,  and  the  Plebe- 
ians, though  they  were  free  and  personally  independent 
(with  the  important  exception  of  compulsory  service  in 
war),  had  no  political  weight.  This  was  the  early  state 
of  things  in  the  Roman  civil  world,  and  the  Plebeians,  as 
might  be  expected,  soon  began  to  strive  after  a  share  in  the 
rights  exclusively  belonging  to  the  Patricians. 

In  Roman  civil  history  we  find  three  different  legisla- 
tive assemblies,  all  called  Comitia,  meaning  "comings- 
together," — the  Comitia  Curiata,  Comitia  Centuriata,  and 
Comitia  Tributa.  Of  these  the  Comitia  Curiata  was  the 
earliest,  and  was  a  solely  patrician  assembly,  which  elected 
the  King,  made  the  laws,  and  decided  in  all  cases  affecting 
the  life  of  a  citizen.  The  powers  of  this  assembly  were 
soon  transferred  to  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  and  it  became 
a  mere  form  long  before  the  end  of  the  republic.  The 
Comitia  Centuriata  was  the  second  in  order  of  time,  and 
came  into  existence  under  the  monarchy.  In  this  assem- 
bly the  Patricians  and  Plebeians  voted  together,  according 
to  a  distribution  of  power  based  upon  wealth,  ascertained 
by  a  census,  or  register  of  citizens  and  their  property. 
The  institution  was  a  means  of  admitting  a  democratic 


182      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

element,  while  a  decided  aristocratic  preponderance  was 
secured.  The  Comitia  Centuriata  was  for  a  time  the  sov- 
ereign assembly  of  the  nation,  and  received  the  power  of 
electing  the  King,  and  then  (under  the  republic)  the 
higher  state  officials,  of  repealing  and  enacting  laws,  and  of 
deciding  in  cases  of  appeal  from  a  judicial  sentence.  As 
time  went  on  these  powers  remained,  with  the  right  of 
declaring  war  and  making  peace,  and  with  the  exercise  of 
the  highest  judicial  functions,  as  in  accusations  of  treason, 
and  in  all  appeals  from  Roman  citizens  on  criminal  mat- 
ters. The  influence  of  the  Comitia  Centuriata  in  the  state 
was,  however,  gradually  superseded  by  that  of  the  third, 
the  great  popular  assembly,  the  Comitia  Tributa.  The 
Comitia  Tributa — originally  based  upon  a  division  of  the 
whole  people  into  local  tribes — in  time  became  a  solely 
plebian  assembly,  voting  according  to  tribes,  not  man  by 
man.  In  the  course  of  time  the  powers  of  this  body  be- 
came very  great,  so  that  it  could  check  all  legislation  initi- 
ated by  the  senate  in  the  aristocratic  Comitia  Centuriata, 
and  stop  the  whole  machinery  of  the  constitution. 

The  most  famous  part  of  the  Roman  constitution — the 
body  which  has  given  its  name  as  a  generic  term  to  similar 
powerful  assemblies — was  the  Senate,  or  Council  of 
Elders.  Founded  in  the  monarchial  times,  it  consisted  at 
first  of  300,  and  then  of  600  members,  and  became  the 
great  executive  body  of  the  Roman  Republic.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Senate  were  those  citizens  alone  who  had  held 
at  least  one  of  the  five  highest  offices  of  the  state — the 
Qusestorship,  ^Edileship,  Praetorship,  Censorship,  or  Con- 
sulship. The  dignity  was  held  for  life,  unless  expulsion 
were  inflicted  by  the  Censors,  who  filled  up  all  vacancies  in 
the  body  every  five  years  from  among  the  past  holders  of 
the  above  five  offices.  As  the  people,  either  in  the  Comitia 
Tributa  or  Centuriata  ultimately  elected  the  holders  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  183 

above  high  offices,  it  is  clear  that  none  could  be  senators 
who  had  not  both  had  some  experience  in  public  affairs,  and 
enjoyed  public  confidence.  The  practical  genius  of  the 
Roman  people  is  strikingly  shown  in  such  an  arrangement, 
theoretically  as  near  perfection  as  possible  for  the  securing 
of  fit  men  to  administer  the  government.  The  powers  of 
this  august  body  were  extensive.  The  Senate  controlled 
legislation  by  its  approval  being  required  for  the  proposal 
of  a  law  to  the  two  popular  assemblies,  while  its  own 
decrees,  called  Senatus-consulta,  were  valid  at  once  in  mat- 
ters affecting  home  administration,  provincial  government, 
foreign  policy,  and  religion.  In  foreign  affairs  the  Sen- 
ate had  absolute  control,  except  for  declaring  war  and  con- 
cluding peace,  which  were  subject  to  the  vote  of  the 
Comitia  Centuriata.  When  Rome  acquired  foreign 
dominion  this  great  body  appointed  the  provincial  gover- 
nors; in  war  it  exercised  control  over  the  conduct  of 
operations,  and  the  appointment  and  dismissal  of  generals ; 
in  foreign  policy  the  senators  alone  negotiated,  and 
appointed  envoys  from  their  own  body.  The  administra- 
tion of  the  finances  and  all  matters  of  religion  were 
entirely  in  their  hands.  Finally,  the  Senate  could  suspend 
the  constitution  altogether  by  investing,  at  its  discretion, 
a  consul  with  absolute  power  (the  famous  Dictatorship) 
in  case  of  imminent  danger  to  the  safety  of  the  republic  at 
home  or  abroad. 

On  the  abolition  of  monarchy  (supposed  to  have 
occurred  about  B.  C.  500)  the  royal  power  was  intrusted 
to  two  high  officials,  elected  for  one  year  of  office,  and 
called,  ultimately,  consuls.  They  were  the  highest  execu- 
tive officers  of  the  state,  both  in  civil  and  military  affairs. 
They  convoked  the  Senate,  presided  over  its  deliberations, 
and  executed  both  its  decrees  and  those  of  the  popular 
assembly.  They  commanded  the  armies  with  the  full 


184      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

powers  of  martial  law,  and  on  the  expiration  of  their  year 
of  office  were  appointed  (as  proconsuls)  on  occasion,  to 
chief  provincial  governorships.  The  office  was  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  as  representing  the  majesty  of  the 
Roman  state,  and,  in  monthly  turns,  each  consul  was 
attended  abroad  by  twelve  officials  called  lictors,  who 
marched  in  front  of  him,  each  bearing  fasces.  These 
fasces  consisted  of  a  bundle  of  rods  encircling  an  axe,  and 
were  symbols  of  the  supreme  power,  extending  in  theory 
to  corporal  punishment  and  death.  When  the  lictors 
appeared  in  the  streets  of  Rome  the  axe  was  removed,  as  a 
sign  that  no  magistrate  could  inflict  death  on  a  Roman 
citizen  within  the  walls. 

The  censors  were  also  two  in  number,  and  their  office 
was,  technically,  the  highest  in  the  state.  They  were 
elected  every  five  years,  were  generally  ex-consuls,  and 
wielded  very  great  powers.  The  censors  had  a  general 
and  arbitrary  control  over  the  moral  conduct  of  all  citi- 
zens, and  could  inflict  political  degradation  by  the  expul- 
sion of  senators  from  the  Senate,  of  knights  (equites)  from 
their  order,  and  of  an  ordinary  citizen  from  his  tribe, 
thereby  depriving  him  of  his  franchise.  They  also,  under 
the  Senate,  administered  the  public  finances,  farming  out 
the  collection  of  the  taxes  by  auction  to  those  called  publi- 
cani,  and  expending  the  revenue  on  public  buildings,  roads, 
aqueducts,  and  other  important  works.  The  censors, 
lastly,  made  the  census,  or  register  of  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty of  every  Roman  citizen,  which  affected  certain  politi- 
cal rights,  and  was  the  basis  for  the  assessment  of  the 
property-tax. 

The  praetors  were  officials  who  had  important  func- 
tions to  perform.  Originally  there  was  only  one 
(appointed  first  in  B.  C.  366),  while  subsequently 
another  was  appointed.  The  former,  called  praetor 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  185 

urbanus,  acted  as  a  judge  in  causes  between  Roman  citi- 
zens; the  other  (praetor  peregrinus,  added  B.  C.  246), 
was  judge  in  cases  in  which  foreigners  were  engaged.  As 
the  foreign  dominion  of  Rome  grew,  four  other  praetors 
were  appointed,  who  acted  as  governors  in  Sicily,  Sardinia, 
and  the  two  provinces  of  Spain,  and  latterly  the  number 
rvas  still  further  increased. 

The  curule  sediles,  first  appointed  B.  C.  365,  had  the 
care  of  the  public  buildings,  the  city  drainage,  and  all 
matters  of  police.  They  also  took  charge  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  great  public  festivals,  and  at  a  later  period  this 
office  bocame  confined  to  wealthy  citizens,  as  the  games  had 
to  be  held  at  the  private  cost  of  the  sediles.  The  curule 
aedileship,  in  the  corrupt  age  of  the  republic,  thus  became 
a  means  of  bribing  the  people  for  election  to  further  high 
offices,  by  the  exhibition  of  the  costly  spectacles  in  which 
the  citizens  took  delight. 

The  quaestors  were  the  paymasters  of  the  republic. 
They  discharged,  out  of  the  revenues  intrusted  to  them,  the 
expenses  of  the  civil  and  military  services ;  their  number 
being  originally  two  for  service  at  Rome,  and  increased, 
as  foreign  dominion  extended,  and  the  provincial  gover- 
nors each  required  such  an  official  to  assist  him.  The 
first  four  of  these  high  offices  of  state  were  called  the 
curule  magistracies,  because  the  holders  had  the  right  of 
sitting  upon  a  state-chair  of  peculiar  form,  called  the  sella 
curulis,  originally  an  Etruscan  sign  of  royalty. 

Rome  solved  the  problem  which  Athenian  statesmen 
and  philosophers  failed  to  solve — how  to  found  an  Empire. 
In  studying  Roman  history  we  are  watching  a  progress 
which,  in  its  vast  proportions,  is  quite  unique  in  the  annals 
of  the  world,  the  progress  of  a  municipality  into  a  King- 
dom and  an  Empire,  the  march  of  an  army  to  universal 
conquest  and  dominion.  Rome  gradually  advanced  from 


186      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

her  position  as  a  rustic  fortress  on  the  Palatine  Hill  to 
that  of  an  agricultural  and  commercial  community,  of  an 
emporium  of  trade,  and  of  a  military  town  with  a  regularly 
fortified  wall  and  a  military  organization  of  her  citizens. 
Slowly  but  surely  her  internal  political  unity  is  cemented 
by  the  wisdom  of  timely  concession,  though  for  nearly  two 
"centuries  the  military  strength  of  the  young  republic  was 
so  far  crippled  by  the  incessant  party-conflicts  within  her 
walls  that  she  failed  to  overpower  the  neighboring  towns 
and  tribes  whose  inroads  still  infested  her  borders. 

The  year  B.  C.  366  brings  a  crisis  in  her  internal  his- 
tory, when  the  election  of  the  first  plebeian  consul  and  the 
dedication  of  a  temple  to  Concord  announced  the  fusion 
of  the  two  rival  orders — a  fusion  whose  further  progress 
is  traced  in  the  enactments  of  the  Publilian,  Ogulnian, 
Valerian,  and  Hortensian  laws,  which  did  away  with  the 
remaining  monopolies  of  the  Patricians.  By  the  time 
these  measures  were  passed  Rome  had  already  become 
lord  of  Latium.  In  what  was  called  the  "Jus  Latii"  (or 
"franchise  of  Latium") — the  species  of  Roman  citizen- 
ship to  which  the  conquered  Latin  population  were  gen- 
erally admitted — we  may  see  the  secret  of  Roman  domin- 
ion, the  power  of  political  assimilation  and  incorporation. 
The  policy  of  Rome  was  in  this  respect  always  the  same. 
One  by  one  successively,  the  Sabines  (in  the  earliest  days) , 
the  Plebeians,  the  Latins,  the  Italians,  or  inhabitants  of 
Italy  at  large,  and  latterly  the  Provincials,  were  taken  up 
and  incorporated  with  her  political  life,  and  the  heart  of 
the  Imperial  city  was  constantly  being  nourished  with  the 
best  blood  of  the  conquerer  nations.  There  is  nothing  fit- 
ful, nothing  hesitating,  nothing  volcanic  in  the  majestic 
sweep — checked  by  defeat,  but  never  broken — of  the  on- 
ward march  of  Rome.  In  this  course  of  expansion  for 
her  Empire  Rome  had  no  ideas  of  the  balance  of  power 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  187 

or  of  deliberate  aggrandizement.  She  aspired  at  first  sim- 
ply to  be  strong,  and  with  that  view  her  enemies  were  to  be 
made  weak.  War  was  from  the  outset  the  very  condition 
of  her  existence.  Mars  was  the  national  god ;  the  national 
virtues  were  the  virtues  of  a  soldier;  and  the  greatest  of 
the  Caesars  could  find  no  more  humiliating  rebuke  to 
address  to  his  mutineers  than  to  call  them  simply  "citizens" 
(Quirites),  the  name  given  to  Romans  in  their  civil 
capacity. 

Rome's  mastery  of  Latium  was  followed  by  her  con- 
quest of  the  Etruscans  and  the  Samnites,  which  secured 
for  her  the  command  of  Northern  and  Central  Italy ;  then 
by  the  defeat  of  Pyrrhus  at  Beneventum,  which  gave  Rome 
Southern  Italy ;  then  by  Hannibal's  discomfiture  at  Zama, 
which  ended  the  power  of  her  rival  Carthage ;  then  by  the 
victory  of  Pydna  in  B.  C.  168,  which  left  Rome,  at  the 
close  of  her  Macedonian  wars,  supreme  over  the  Mediter- 
ranean world.  These  were  the  glorious  days  of  the  repub- 
lic, days  when  democracy  was  established  by  law,  while 
aristocracy  was  still  dear  to  sentiment. 

At  this  stage  the  picture  of  Rome's  greatness  has 
another  and  a  darker  side.  We  can  see  the  evil  influence 
of  Roman  conquest  upon  Roman  morality;  we  can  trace 
the  decline  of  the  old  simplicity  of  life  and  habits  by  the 
influx  of  debased  Greek  manners,  and  the  corrosive  action 
of  that  vast  tide  of  wealth  which  flowed  in  upon  the  vic- 
tors when  the  commerce  of  Carthage  and  of  her  dependen- 
cies was  diverted  into  Roman  ports.  Religious  reverence 
and  domestic  purity  decayed ;  divorce  became  exceedingly 
common,  and  the  scandalous  and  licentious  Bacchanalian 
mysteries  were  introduced. 

Meantime,  between  the  ages  of  Pyrrhus  and  of  Han- 
nibal, the  agricultural  system  of  the  peninsula  underwent 
a  gradual  change,  and  one  pregnant  with  most  important 


iSS      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

consequences.  The  small  freeholds  formerly  held  by  an 
independent  peasantry  passed  into  large  estates  which 
were  tended  by  slave-labor  and  superintended  by  hired 
bailiffs,  themselves  very  often  slaves.  A  great  propor- 
tion of  the  soil  became  mere  pasture  ground,  and  the 
increasing  population  of  the  idle  capital  was  made 
dependent  on  the  corn-ships  from  the  fertile  Sicily  and 
Africa  for  its  daily  food.  Thus,  neglecting  to  enforce  her 
agrarian  laws,  which  would  have  kept  land  subdivided, 
and  not  being  a  commercial  state,  Rome  possessed  no 
middle  class  of  citizens,  without  which  there  can  be  no 
permanent  liberty ;  political  power  came  to  be  placed  more 
and  more  at  the  disposal  of  the  lower  order  of  the  people, 
and  the  genuine  Roman  character  was  debased  by  the  con- 
stant influx  and  manumission  of  slaves. 

Latterly  the  government  of  provinces,  the  conduct  of 
wars,  with  their  opportunities  for  plunder,  and  the  farm- 
ing of  the  public  revenues,  with  their  openings  for  extor- 
tion, enabled  many  of  the  nobility  and  the  knights  to 
acquire  immense  wealth,  with  which  they  purchased  from 
corrupt  judges  impunity  for  their  crimes,  and  bought  from 
a  thoroughly  venal  populace  the  lucrative  and  influential 
offices  of  the  state,  which  their  votes  threw  open  to  success- 
ful candidates.  Patriotism  gave  place  to  ambition,  and 
the  unselfish  loyalty  that  thought  only  of  the  Republic  was 
succeeded  by  the  spirit  of  party  rivalry,  by  the  lust  for 
wealth,  and  by  the  craving  for  personal  aggrandizement. 
It  is  no  longer  a  contest  between  the  Patricians  and  the 
Plebeians,  for  that  distinction  has  long  since  been  effaced. 
It  is  a  war  between  the  rich  and  the  poor :  the  nobles  harden 
into  an  unfeeling  oligarchy,  while  the  people  degenerate 
into  a  mob ;  the  machinery  of  government  suited  for  a  sin- 
gle city  cannot  be  made  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  world- 
wide dominion,  and  the  time  fast  approaches  when  the  cry 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  189 

of  the  commonwealth  against  the  lacerations  of  civil  war, 
and  the  cry  of  the  oppressed  and  plundered  provinces 
against  the  extortions  of  their  oppressive  governors  are 
to  be  answered  by  the  substitution  of  one  master  for  many, 
and  by  the  establishment  of  that  monarchy  toward  which 
events  had  long  and  steadily  been  pointing,  in  place  of  the 
Republic  which  now  existed  but  in  memory  and  in  name. 

After  the  triumphs  of  Pompey  in  the  East,  and  the 
conquest  of  Gaul  by  Caesar  in  the  West,  we  have  the 
collision  of  the  rival  conquerors,  the  thunders  of  the  civil 
wars,  and  the  consolidation  at  last  of  every  office  and  of 
all  power  in  the  state  in  the  hands  of  Augustus.  Then 
come  the  enervating  influence  of  Imperialism ;  the  grow- 
ing servility  of  the  Senate ;  the  death  of  political  activity ; 
the  pauperization  and  dwindling  of  the  people ;  the  demor- 
alizing influence  of  slavery,  of  the  arena,  the  circus,  and  the 
theater;  the  rival  systems  of  the  Stoic  and  the  Epicurean 
philosophy,  Neo-Platonism,  and  Christianity;  the  pomp- 
ous inanities  of  expiring  superstition ;  the  gradual  Orient- 
alization  of  the  Empire.  These  are  the  main  features  in 
the  picture  of  the  culmination  and  the  decline  of  an  Empire 
around  whose  frontiers  we  at  last  hear  the  threatening 
tramp  of  the  barbarian  peoples  who  are  assembling  for 
their  part  in  the  mighty  drama  of  the  death  of  the  Old 
World  and  the  birth  of  the  New.  True  it  is  that  Roman 
history  is  the  history  of  the  world,  for  into  Rome  the 
ancient  order  dies,  and  out  of  her  the  modern  order  is 
born.  She  persecuted  Christianity,  but  she  made  Chris- 
tendom possible  by  giving  it  organization  and  form.  Mod- 
ern liberty  was  gradually  developed  upon  the  basis  of  the 
municipal  institutions  of  the  queen  of  cities,  and  her  lan- 
guage and  her  laws  were  inextricably  interwoven  into  the 
progressive  fabric  of  the  modern  world. 

The  essential  feature  of  Rome's  history  is  the  exten- 


190      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

sion  of  her  power  by  war,  for  the  carrying  out  of  what 
was  doubtless  the  unconscious  purpose  of  her  existence — 
the  linking  the  nations  together,  and  preparing  the  way 
for  a  Heaven-sent  faith.  We  have  seen  in  the  panoramic 
sketch  just  given  what  were  the  achievements  of  Rome 
in  war,  and  we  are  led  to  inquire  to  what  special  causes 
results  so  remarkable,  so  unequaled,  were  due.  They 
were  due,  firstly,  to  the  special  character  that  was  inherent 
in  the  race,  and,  in  a  secondary  way,  to  the  special  mili- 
tary organization  which  the  genius  of  the  people  developed 
as  the  fit  instrument  for  effecting  the  conquest  of  the 
world.  The  elements  out  of  which  the  Roman  people 
was  formed  were  Latin,  Sabine,  and  Etruscan,  and  these 
must  have  had  a  natural  adaptation  to  produce  the  Roman 
spirit. 

Our  ideas  of  Roman  character  are  derived  in  some 
degree  from  the  legends  which  appear  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  Roman  story,  and  which  we  have  rejected  from 
history.  Those  legends,  however,  were  universally  re- 
ceived as  true  by  the  Romans  themselves,  and  therefore 
they  are  true  to  the  genius  of  the  times  and  of  the  people, 
true  in  the  lessons  of  Roman  character  which  they  incul- 
cate, true  for  the  practical  purpose  of  teaching  us  what 
manner  of  men  those  old  Romans  really  were.  Legend- 
ary lore  possesses,  in  fact,  a  formative  power  in  moulding 
the  national  character  by  consecrating  traditional  types  of 
men  for  the  admiration  and  imitation  of  posterity.  The 
Roman  thought  of  early  Rome  and  of  her  heroes  as  his 
poets  and  orators  had  taught  him  to  think,  and  so  from 
the  legends  we  can  understand  in  a  measure  the  thoughts 
and  actions  of  those  who  implicitly  believed  them.  In 
Rome,  as  opposed  to  the  poetry  and  freedom  of  spirit 
among  the  Greeks,  we  have  stern,  constrained,  unfeeling, 
prosaic  intelligence.  The  character  of  the  people  is 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  191 

shown  in  their  religion.  The  word  "religion"  means  obli- 
gation, a  binding  power,  and  the  religion  of  the  Romans 
was  a  feeling  of  constraint,  and  their  worship  a  business- 
like performance  involving  narrow  aspirations,  expedi- 
ency, and  profit.  They  worshiped  prosaic  abstractions 
such  as  Pax,  "peace,"  Tranquillitas,  "quietness."  They 
had  altars  to  Plague,  Hunger,  Mildew  (Robigo),  Fever. 
They  not  only  prayed  to  their  gods  in  time  of  need,  but 
made  solemn  vows  to  them  in  times  of  difficulty,  and  they 
imported  foreign  divinities  and  rites  to  help  them  when 
their  home  deities  appeared  to  be  inefficient.  The  Roman 
temples  were  chiefly  built  in  consequence  of  vows,  and  thus 
arose  from  necessity  and  not  spontaneously :  such  a  devo- 
tion as  this  was  a  thoroughly  hard,  practical,  and  interested 
worship.  Still  the  Roman  religion  was,  in  one  view, 
high,  earnest,  and  severe,  and  this  resulted  in  government, 
as  its  highest  earthly  expression. 

Duty  was  the  Roman  watchword,  and  therefore  law 
on  earth,  as  a  copy  of  the  will  of  Heaven.  The  destiny 
of  the  Roman  seems  to  have  been  to  stamp  on  the  mind  of 
mankind  the  ideas  of  law,  government,  order.  He 
showed  his  practical  character  by  what  he  left  behind  him 
— works  of  public  usefulness — noble  roads  intersecting 
Empires — huge  aqueducts — bridges — excavations  for 
draining  cities — and  especially  that  great  system  of  law, 
the  slow  growth  of  ages  of  experience,  which  has  con- 
tributed so  largely  to  the  jurisprudence  of  most  European 
nations.  The  great  Roman  poet,  Virgil,  knew  what  the 
Roman's  work  in  life  was  when  he  sang,  contrasting  his 
countrymen  with  the  Greeks — 

"Others,  belike,  with  happier  grace 
From  bronze  or  stone  shall  call  the  face, 
Plead  doubtful  causes,  map  the  skies, 
And  tell  when  planets  set  or  rise; 
But,  Roman,  thou — do  thou  control 


192      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

The  nations  far  and  wide; 
Be  this  thy  genius,  to  impose 
The  rule  of  Peace  on  vanished  foes, 
Show  pity  to  the  humbled  soul, 
And  crush  the  sons  of  pride." 

The  domestic  ties  were  held  sacred  by  the  Romans. 
Home  was  sacred,  guarded  by  the  deities  of  the  domestic 
shrine — the  Lares  and  Penates.  A  Roman's  own  fireside 
was  nearly  the  most  sacred  spot  on  earth.  The  battle-cry 
was  "Pro  aris  et  focis,"  "for  our  altars  and  hearths." 
The  fabric  of  the  commonwealth  arose  out  of  the  family. 
First  the  family — then  the  clan  (gens)  made  up  of  the 
family  and  its  dependents  (clientes) — then  the  tribe — last 
the  nation.  Thus  the  Roman  state  rested  on  the  founda- 
tion of  the  family  hearth.  Domestic  corruption  in  Rome, 
the  loss  of  integrity  and  manliness  in  her  Senate,  preceded 
and  led  to  her  ruin.  The  Roman  virtue,  when  Rome  flour- 
ished, was  manly  courage  (virtus),  manhood.  Roman 
courage  was  no  mere  animal  daring,  but  duty,  obedience 
to  will,  self-surrender  to  the  public  good — the  courage  of 
the  Spartan  at  his  best  amongst  the  Greeks.  The  Roman 
legions  subdued  the  world  not  by  discipline  alone,  nor  by 
strength,  nor  audacity,  but  by  moral  force,  contempt  of 
pain,  preference  of  death  to  dishonor.  Unconquerable 
fidelity  to  duty  was  the  spell  which  laid  the  forces  of  the 
world  prostrate  before  her :  in  that  strength  she  went  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  The  chief  virtues  of  the  old 
Romans  were  these — fortitude,  temperance,  spirit  to  resist 
oppression,  respect  for  legitimate  authority,  ardent  patri- 
otism. Of  charity  and  chivalrous  generosity — virtues 
mainly  of  Christian  production  and  growth — they  were 
generally  destitute.  They  were  cruel,  hard,  and  grasp- 
ing, and  often  faithless  in  their  dealings  with  other  nations. 
Among  all  the  qualities  which  contributed  to  make  Rome 
supremely  great  amongst  the  nations — the  one  all-con- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  193 

quering  people  of  the  ancient  world — the  chief  was  the 
habit  of  obedience,  of  reverence  for  authority,  which  was 
ingrained  in  the  Roman's  nature. 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  ancient  Roman — a 
character  in  all  its  chief  features  essentially  military.  To 
this  character  accordingly  must  be  mainly  attributed  the 
extraordinary  success  of  the  Romans  in  extending  their 
conquests  over  the  world,  and  in  uniting  so  many  different 
nationalities  in  one  Empire.  But  as  another  and  almost 
equally  important  factor  in  this  result  we  must  regard  their 
military  organizations.  The  constitution  of  the  Roman 
legion — the  great  military  instrument  of  Roman  conquest 
— varied  at  different  epochs  of  history,  and  underwent 
successive  improvements  from  men  of  tactical  ability.  The 
main  principle  of  its  formation,  however,  was  the  same 
throughout.  In  the  later  days  of  the  Republic,  when  per- 
fected by  the  great  commander  Marius,  the  legion  was, 
in  numbers,  a  brigade ;  but  in  form  it  was  a  complete  small 
army  corps  of  over  6,000  men,  including  troops  of  all  arms, 
cavalry,  infantry,  and  artillery,  or  the  military  engines  for 
siege  purposes.  The  cavalry  were  300  in  number.  The 
infantry,  numbering  about  6,000,  were  composed  partly  of 
skirmishers,  armed  with  slings  or  bows  and  arrows,  or 
light  darts,  but  mainly  of  armor-clad  men  using  the  pilum, 
an  iron-pointed  spear  (six  feet  long,  and  weighing  over 
ten  pounds)  for  hurling  at  the  enemy  from  a  distance  of 
ten  to  fifteen  paces,  and  (for  close  quarters)  a  short,  stout, 
two-edged,  pointed,  cut-and-thrust  sword.  The  execu- 
tion done  with  these  weapons  by  powerful  men  was  ter- 
rible, the  hurled  pilum  producing  great  slaughter  and  con- 
fusion, amidst  which  the  legionaries  closed  in  upon  the 
shaken  foe  with  the  short  sword,  and  concluded  matters  by 
downright  strokes  upon  the  head,  or,  if  that  were  strongly 

guarded,  by  stabs  delivered  upward  below  the  enemy's 
Voi,.  1  —  13 


194      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

shield.  The  infantry  of  the  legion  was  divided  into  ten 
cohorts,  each  of  600  men,  and,  in  battle  array,  stood  in  two 
lines  (or,  in  Julius  Caesar's  arrangement,  in  three  lines), 
each  line  consisting  of  five  cohorts  with  a  space  between 
each.  The  van,  or  front  line,  was  composed  of  the  veter- 
ans, with  the  younger  soldiers  in  the  rear  line,  as  a  reserve. 
The  excellence' of  the  legion's  formation  consisted  in  its 
having  both  a  close  array  and  an  organization  allowing 
of  division  into  parts ;  it  combined  in  itself  at  once  massive- 
ness  and  capability  of  dispersion.  It  was  firm  and  com- 
pact at  will,  and  yet  could  readily  expand  when  it  became 
necessary. 

In  the  best  days  of  Rome  every  citizen  between  the 
ages  of  seventeen  and  fifty  was  liable  to  military  service, 
unless  he  was  of  the  lowest  class,  or  had  served  twenty 
years  in  the  infantry  or  ten  in  the  cavalry.  The  drill  was 
severe,  and  included  running,  jumping,  swimming  in  full 
armor,  and  marching  long  distances  at  a  rapid  pace.  For 
sieges  the  Romans  used  military-engines  of  Greek  inven- 
tion, such  as  the  ballista  for  hurling  huge  stones ;  the  cata- 
pult for  ponderous  beam-like  spears ;  the  battering-ram  for 
breaching  walls,  and  the  movable  tower  for  pushing  close 
to  the  enemy's  defences  so  as  to  overlook  them.  The 
Roman  entrenched  camp  was  a  great  feature  of  the  war- 
fare, being  admirable  for  security,  with  its  ditch  and  solid 
rampart  of  earth  crowned  by  a  stout  wooden  palisade. 
Inside  the  camp  the  tents  of  all  the  soldiers  and  officers 
were  ranged  in  regular  order  upon  a  plan  common  to  all 
the  Roman  armies. 

A  triumph,  the  grand  reward  of  a  successful  general's 
achievements,  was  regarded  as  the  height  of  military 
glory,  and  was  the  chief  object  of  ambition  to  every  Roman 
commander.  The  honor  was  granted  by  the  Senate,  and 
only  to  one  who,  as  praetor,  consul,  or  dictator,  had  gained 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  195 

brilliant  and  decisive  victories,  or  had  by  a  series  of  opera- 
tions permanently  and  largely  added  to  the  foreign  terri- 
tory of  Rome.  On  the  conclusion  of  the  war  the  general 
and  his  army  returned  to  Rome,  and  if  a  triumph  were 
granted,  money  was  voted  by  the  Senate  to  defray  the 
expenses,  and  a  special  decree  of  the  people  assembled  in 
Comitia  Tributa  suspended  the  constitution  for  the  one 
or  more  days  of  the  triumph  so  as  to  enable  the  successful 
general  to  enter  the  city  in  his  military  capacity  and  with 
an  armed  force.  Thus  jealously  were  a  Roman's  civil 
rights  guarded  against  the  military  authority  conferred  by 
the  popular  assembly.  This  authority  was  called  the 
imperium,  and  could  be  held,  except  by  special  enactment, 
only  outside  the  city  walls. 

A  fine  poetical  description  of  a  triumph  is  given  in  Lord 
Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome  (Prophecy  of  Capys). 
The  grand  procession  entered  the  city,  headed  by  lictors, 
clearing  the  way  for  the  Senate  and  high  officials,  who 
came  first.  Then  followed  players  upon  the  pipe  and  flute, 
succeeded  by  the  spoils  of  war — treasures  of  art,  rich  plate 
and  pictures,  statues  and  robes  of  price.  All  these  were 
borne  by  bay-crowned  soldiers  on  stands  or  heads  of  lances, 
mingled  with  products  of  the  conquered  country's  soil, 
and  with  arms  and  standards  taken  from  the  foe.  Then 
came  long  files  of  prisoners  of  war,  with  vanquished  lead- 
ers, and  it  may  be  a  captive  King.  White  oxen  with 
gilded  horns  were  led  along  accompanied  by  the  priests 
who  were  to  slay  them ;  and  last,  preceded  by  a  throng  of 
singers  and  musicians,  came  the  victorious  general  stand- 
ing erect  in  four-horse  car,  his  body  clad  in  white  embroid- 
ered robe,  an  ivory  eagle-tipped  scepter  in  his  hand,  and 
the  triumphal  wreath  of  gold  held  by  a  slave  above  his 
head.  Last  came  the  conqueror's  army,  and  the  long 
pomp  marched  down  the  street  called  "Sacred  Way,"  then 


196     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

through  the  Forum  (the  chief  square  or  Place,  in  conti- 
nental phrase,  of  ancient  Rome),  and  up  the  Capitoline 
Hill  to  the  temple  of  "Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,"  Jupiter 
Capitolinus,  the  chief  god  of  Rome.  There  the  triumphal 
general  laid  his  golden  crown  on  the  lap  of  the  god's 
statue  as  an  offering  of  thanksgiving,  and  the  day  ended 
with  feasting,  revelry,  and  song.  The  Roman  character 
was  darkly  shown  in  the  usual  treatment  of  conquered 
foes ;  the  rank  and  file  endured  the  lot  of  slaves ;  the  cap- 
tured general  or  King  passed  from  the  triumphal  proces- 
sion to  imprisonment  or  death.  Jugurtha,  King  of  Numi- 
dia,  was  deliberately  starved  in  prison.  Vercingetorix 
the  ablest  and  bravest  of  the  Gallic  chiefs,  was  murdered 
after  the  triumph  of  B.  C.  45  by  order  of  his  conqueror, 
Julius  Caesar,  famed,  and  that  justly,  as,  toward  his  fel- 
low-citizens, one  of  the  most  generous  of  Romans. 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 

When  Rome  ceased  to  be  under  monarchial  rule,  two 
high  officials  called  consuls  were  appointed,  to  hold  a 
yearly  office,  and  wield  the  chief  executive  power  in  the 
state.  About  B.  C.  500  began  struggles  between  the 
Patricians  and  Plebeians,  arising  out  of  the  discontent 
caused  by  poverty  and  distress  among  the  inferior  class. 
The  Plebeians  fought  the  battles  of  Rome,  and,  in  order 
to  do  so,  had  to  neglect  the  tillage  of  the  soil  by  which  they 
lived.  Hence  came  poverty,  made  worse  still  by  a  severe 
law  of  debt,  and  by  a  high  rate  of  interest  extorted  by  the 
Patricians  who  advanced  money.  The  taxation  of  the 
State  was  paid  solely  by  the  Plebeians,  as  the  Patricians 
hacj^eased  to  pay  their  rent  to  the  treasury  for  the  public 
lands  which  they  held.  At  the  same  time,  the  Plebeians, 
which  body,  we  must  remember,  included  also  many  men 
of  birth  and  wealth,  were  entirely  excluded  from  public 
offices,  and  such  a  state  of  things  could  only  end  in  an  out- 
break. According  to  the  traditions  on  which  we  have  to 
rely  for  this  part  of  Roman  history,  such  an  event  occurred 
in  B.  C.  493. 

The  oppression  exercised  upon  the  debtors,  who  were 
imprisoned  and  flogged  on  failure  to  pay,  caused  a  with- 
drawal, a  secession,  of  the  Plebeians  in  a  body  to  a  hill 
called  Mons  Sacer  ("Holy  Hill")  outside  the  Roman  ter- 
ritory, and  about  three  miles  from  Rome.  Their  declared 
purpose  was  to  erect  a  new  town,  and  dwell  apart  with 
equal  rights.  The  Patricians  were  left  helpless  against 
foreign  enemies,  and  as  usual  in  such  cases,  made  conces- 
sions when  they  were  forced  to  terms.  It  was  agreed 

«97 


198     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

that  two  officials  should  be  appointed  (to  balance  the  two 
consuls,  who  were  Patrician  magistrates)  for  the  defence 
of  the  commoners  against  the  cruel  exercise  of  the  law  of 
debtor  and  creditor.  These  new  magistrates  were  called 
Tribuni  Plebis  ("Tribunes  of  the  Commons"),  and  the 
v  title,  in  the  later  development  of  the  office,  becomes  very 
famous  in  aftertime.  These  Tribunes  acted  as  cham- 
pions of  the  subordinate  class  against  all  oppression,  and 
pleaded  in  the  law  courts  on  that  behalf.  The  person  of 
a  Tribune  was  sacred  and  inviolable,  and,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  yearly  office,  he  could  forbid  the  execution  of  the 
order  of  any  official,  or  of  any  decree  of  the  Senate;  he 
could  pardon  offences,  and  call  to  account  all  enemies  of 
the  commons  under  his  charge. 

In  B.  C.  486  Spurius  Cassius,  tried  for  treason  and  put 
to  death  by  the  Patricians,  is  said  to  have  carried  the  first 
of  the  famous  Agrarian  Laws,  for  limiting  the  amount  of 
public  land  held  by  the  Patricians,  compelling  them  to  pay 
tithe  or  rent  for  the  land  they  held,  and  dividing  surplus 
lands  amongst  the  Plebeians.  The  law  was  not  acted  on, 
through  the  violence  and  injustice  of  the  Patricians.  The 
Plebeians  exercised  some  check  from  time  to  time,  by  the 
refusal  to  serve  as  soldiers.  In  B.  C.  473,  however, 
the  Tribune  Genucius  was  murdered  by  the  Patricians, 
because  he  had  called  the  consuls  to  account  for  not  carry- 
ing the  Agrarian  Law  into  effect.  In  B.  C.  471  a  great 
advance  was  made  by  the  Plebeians.  They  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  famous  Publilian  Law,  proposed  by  the 
Tribune  Publilius  Volero,  that  the  Tribunes  should  in 
future  be  chosen  only  at  the  Comitia  Tributa,  the  popular 
assembly,  instead  of  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  an  assembly 
under  Patrician  influence.  The  Comitia  Tributa  also  re- 
ceived the  right  of  deliberating  and  deciding  upon  all  mat- 
ters that  were  open  to  discussion  and  settlement  in  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  199 

Comitia  Centuriata.  After  this  the  struggle  continued, 
and  the  commons  found  it  a  great  disadvantage  that  there 
was  no  written  law  to  control  the  chief  Patrician  magis- 
trates, the  consuls,  in  their  dealings  with  the  Plebeians. 

After  violent  opposition,  and  the  increase  of  the  num- 
ber of  Tribunes  to  ten,  it  was  carried  by  the  Plebeians 
(about  B.  C.  452)  that  ten  commissioners  (the  famous 
Decemviri)  should  draw  up  a  code  of  laws  which  should 
bind  all  classes  of  Romans  alike.  The  ultimate  result  was 
the  compilation,  and  engraving  on  thick  sheets  of  brass, 
of  the  first  and  only  code  of  law  in  the  Roman  Republic 
•—the  Laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables.  These  laws  appear  to 
have  made  the  Comitia  Tributa  into  a  really  national 
assembly  for  legislative  purposes,  embodying  Patricians 
and  Plebeians  alike,  and  having  the  election  of  the  lower 
officials — aediles,  quaestors,  and  tribunes.  The  Plebeians, 
however,  were  still  kept  out  of  a  share  in  the  lands  which 
they  conquered  in  war,  and  a  time  of  trouble  came  in  the 
usurpation  and  violence  of  the  Decemviri.  It  is  to  this 
period  that  the  well-known  story  of  Virginia  and  Appius 
Claudius,  told  in  Macaulay's  Lays,  belongs.  For  some 
years  no  tribunes  were  elected,  and  the  commons  were 
subject  to  wanton  tyranny.  In  B.  C.  448,  the  Plebeians, 
for  the  second  time,  seceded  to  the  Mons  Sacer,  and  the 
Decemviri  were  obliged  to  give  way.  Tribunes  were 
reappointed,  and  the  new  consuls  were  Valerius  and  Hora- 
tius.  By  them,  in  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  the  great  Valer- 
ian and  Horatian  Laws  were  passed,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  first  great  charter  of  Roman  freedom.  A 
great  increase  of  the  power  of  the  Plebeians  was  hereby 
effected.  The  assembly  of  the  tribes,  Comitia  Tributa, 
was  now  put  on  a  level  with  the  Comitia  Centuriata,  so 
that  a  Plebiscitum  or  decree  of  the  people's  assembly,  had 
henceforth  the  same  force  as  one  passed  by  the  Comitia 


200       ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Centuriata,  and  became  law  for  the  whole  nation.  The 
struggle  between  the  two  orders,  Patricians  and  Plebeians, 
continued.  In  B.  C.  445  the  Lex  Canuleia,  proposed  by 
the  tribune  Canuleius,  was  passed,  sanctioning  intermar- 
riage (connubium)  between  Patricians  and  Plebeians. 

Foreseeing  that  the  time  would  come  when  the  Plebe- 
ians must  be  admitted  to  the  high  offices  of  the  state,  the 
Patricians  divided  the  powers  of  the  consulship,  and  in 
B.  C.  <\/\i\  caused  the  appointment  of  Military  Tribunes 
with  consular  power  (Tribuni  Militares  Consulari  Potes- 
tate),  officers  who  might  be  elected  from  either  order,  as 
commanders  of  the  army,  while  the  civil  powers  of  the 
consuls  were  kept  by  the  Patricians  in  their  own  hands. 
In  B.  C.  443  the  office  of  the  Censors  was  established,  with 
the  proviso  that  they  should  be  appointed  only  from  the 
Patricians,  and  only  by  their  assembly,  the  Comitia 
Curiata.  In  this  office  the  Patricians  undoubtedly  gained 
an  accession  of  power ;  the  duties  of  the  Censors  have  been 
already  explained.  The  power  of  the  Plebeians  grew  by 
degrees  through  the  exertion  of  the  prerogatives  of  the 
Tribunes,  and  about  B.  C.  400  the  office  of  the  Military 
Tribunes  became  open  to  the  Plebeians,  and  four  out  of 
the  six  were  chosen  from  that  order.  After  the  capture 
of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  (B.  C.  390)  fresh  troubles  for  the 
Plebeians  arose.  Their  lands  near  Rome  had  been  laid 
waste,  cattle  killed,  and  implements  of  agriculture 
destroyed.  Heavy  taxes  were  imposed  to  make  up  for  the 
loss  of  public  treasure  carried  off  by  the  Gauls,  and  soon  the 
old  trouble  of  debt  arose,  and  consequent  oppression  by  the 
Patrician  creditors.  The  distress  of  the  Commons  in- 
creased until  a  great  remedy  was  found  by  two  patriotic 
tribunes  of  the  Plebeians,  Caius,  Licinius  Stolo  and 
Lucius  Sextius,  who  are  regarded  as  the  civil  founders  of 
Rome's  greatness,  and  the  authors  of  the  great  Roman 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  201 

Charter  of  equality  and  freedom.  These  able,  active,  and 
determined  men,  after  a  tremendous  struggle,  fought  with 
constitutional  arms  alone — one  in  which  the  Romans 
showed  that  respect  for  law  and  authority  which,  in  their 
best  days,  so  honorably  distinguished  them — carried  their 
point  in  the  end.  The  victory  was  won  through  the  use 
of  the  tribunitian  power  of  stopping  the  whole  machinery 
of  government.  Year  after  year,  for  ten  successive  years. 
Licinius  and  Sextius  were  chosen  tribunes,  and,  while  the 
Patricians  (a  common  device  afterward)  gained  over  the 
eight  other  tribunes,  and  prevented  the  popular  bills  being 
put  to  vote  in  the  Comitia,  the  two  tribunes  prevented 
the  election  of  the  Consular  Tribunes  (save  in  B.  C.  371, 
for  a  war  with  the  Latins),  and  other  high  officials,  and 
would  have  no  troops  levied  at  all. 

At  last,  in  B.  C.  366,  the  famous  Licinian  Laws  were 
carried.  Their  provisions  were  these :  That  the  interest 
already  paid  the  debtors  should  be  deducted  from  the  capi- 
tal of  the  debt,  and  the  reduced  remainder  paid  off  in  three 
equal  annual  installments ;  that  no  one  should  hold  above 
500  jugera  (about  280  English  acres)  of  the  public  land, 
the  surplus  to  be  divided  among  the  poorer  Plebeians ;  that 
the  military  tribunate  with  consular  power  should  be 
abolished,  and  the  consulship  restored,  but  one  Consul,  at 
least,  henceforward  should  be  a  Plebeian.  Sextius  was 
himself  elected  in  B.  C.  366  as  the  first  Plebeian  Consul. 
The  Plebeians  thus  acquired  perfect  equality  with  the 
Patricians  in  the  great  stronghold  of  the  constitutional 
offices  —  the  Consulship;  and  this  change  was  of  tne 
greatest  advantage  to  the  state,  as  the  subsequent  history 
shows  that  among  the  great  men  produced  by  Rome,  both 
as  commanders  and  as  statesmen,  the  Plebeian  houses 
could  claim  an  equal  share  with  the  original  Patrician 
nobility. 


202      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

The  idea  likely  to  arise  from  the  modern  contemptu- 
ous use  of  the  word  "plebeian,"  that  the  Plebeians,  as 
an  order,  were  composed  solely  of  the  mob  of  Rome,  con- 
trasted with  the  Patricians,  as  the  nobles,  must  here  be 
guarded  against.  The  distinction  of  Plebeian  and 
Patrician  is  here  political,  and  the  Plebeians  included  many 
wealthy  and  otherwise  influential  men,  previously  ex- 
cluded by  their  descent  from  certain  political  advantages, 
just  as  in  England,  until  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Act 
was  passed  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  present  Century,  a 
Roman  Catholic,  though  of  ducal  rank  and  princely  wealth, 
could  take  no  share  in  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of 
Lords. 

In  B.  C.  339  Publilius  Philo,  Dictator  in  that  year, 
carried  the  Publilian  Laws,  which  put  the  Plebeians  on  a 
thorough  practical  equality  with  the  Patricians.  By  these 
it  was  enacted :  That  a  Plebiscitum  (decree  of  the  Com- 
itia  Tributa)  should  bind  as  law  the  whole  people :  this  was 
a  re-enactment  of  a  provision  of  the  Valerian  and  Hora- 
tian  laws,  which  provision  had  either  never  been  carried 
into  effect,  or  had  become  obsolete.  That  the  legislative 
power  of  the  Comitia  Curiata  should  be,  practically,  abol- 
ished :  hitherto  that  assembly  had  possessed  a  right  of  veto 
on  measures  proposed  in  the  other  Comitia.  That  one 
of  the  Censors  must  henceforth  be  a  Plebeian.  In  B.  C. 
336  the  Praetorship  was  thrown  open  to  the  Plebeians. 
In  B.  C.  300  the  Lex  Ogulnia  (carried  by  two  of  the 
Tribuni  Plebis,  the  brothers  Quintus  and  Cnseus  Ogul- 
nius)  stormed  for  the  Plebeians  the  stronghold  of  the 
state  religion,  by  enacting  that  four  of  the  eight  pontiffs 
and  five  of  the  nine  augurs  should  be  taken  from  that 
order.  The  pontiffs  and  augurs,  we  may  here  explain, 
had  charge  of  the  religious  ceremonies,  and  the  augurs, 
who  consulted  the  will  of  the  gods  by  observation  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  203 

flight  of  birds,  and  so  forth,  had  much  political  influence, 
residing  in  their  power  of  delaying  the  progress  of  meas- 
ures in  the  Comitia,  by  declaring  that  the  day  was  unpro- 
pitious  for  its  meeting,  and  then  no  assembly  could  be  held. 
In  the  same  year,  B.  C.  300,  M.  Valerius,  as  Consul,  re- 
enacted  the  Lex  Valeria  (one  of  the  Valerian  and  Hora- 
tian  Laws),  De  Provocatione  ("On  the  right  of  appeal"), 
to  the  effect  that  every  Roman  citizen  should  have  a  right 
of  appeal  to  the  assembly  of  the  Plebeians,  against  the  sen- 
tence of  the  supreme  magistrate.  In  B.  C.  286  Lex  Hor- 
tensia,  carried  by  Quintus  Hortensius,  Dictator  in  that 
year,  confirmed  the  rights  of  the  Plebeians  by  solemnly 
re-enacting  the  late  Publilian  Law,  that  the  Plebeians 
might  bind  the  whole  people  by  laws.  The  Senate  was 
hereby  deprived  of  its  veto  on  the  proceedings  of  the 
Comitia  Tributa,  and  that  assembly  of  the  Commons  be- 
came a  supreme  legislative  power. 

This  enactment  followed  the  third  and  last  secession 
of  the  Plebeians,  which  protest  of  the  order  took  the  form 
of  a  retirement  to  the  Janiculan  Hill  of  Rome.  Hence- 
forth there  is  an  end  of  all  political  distinction  between 
Patricians  and  Plebeians,  and  so-called  equality  of  rights 
for  both  orders  existed.  The  Comitia  Tributa  became 
now,  however,  the  absolute  legislative  body  in  the  state, 
the  only  check  on  that  assembly  being  the  veto  of  the 
Tribuni  Plebis,  and  this  led  afterward  to  great  intrigues 
on  the  part  of  the  Patricians,  in  order  to  gain  over  one  or 
more  of  the  ten  tribunes,  and  cause  the  veto  to  be  exercised. 

The  general  result  of  all  this  contest  between 
Patricians  and  Plebeians  was  that  the  constitution  of 
Rome  had  become  a  moderate  democracy ;  for  the  Senate 
retained  the  power  of  taxation,  and  the  chief  judicial 
power,  as  the  judges  in  the  most  important  civil  and  crim- 
inal cases  were  taken  from  the  Senatorial  order.  The 


2o4      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Senate,  however,  held  the  general  executive  administra- 
tion. That  great  body  contained  the  political  intelligence 
and  practical  statesmanship  of  the  commonwealth,  and  in 
consistency  and  sagacity,  in  unanimity  and  patriotism,  it 
was  the  foremost  political  combination  of  all  times,  an 
assembly  of  Kings,  which  knew  how  to  combine  despotic 
energy  with  republican  self-devotedness.  Such  was  the 
end  of  the  legitimate  and  constitutional  development  of 
the  Roman  state  in  its  civil  capacity. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY 

With  regard  to  Rome's  gain  of  territory  during  the 
monarchial  period,  there  has  been  preserved  by  the  his- 
torian Polybius  a  treaty  concluded  by  Rome  with  Carthage 
in  B.  C.  508,  which  proves  that  Rome  possessed  at  that 
time  nearly  the  whole  coast  of  Latium,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Tiber  to  the  town  of  Anxur  or  Tarracina.  This 
dominion  was  soon  afterward  lost,  and  it  also  appears  from 
the  legendary  accounts  that  Rome  at  an  uncertain  date, 
perhaps  about  B.  C.  500,  was  besieged  and  taken  by  the 
Etruscans,  who  made  the  Romans  redeem  their  city  and 
some  territory  around  it  to  the  south  of  the  Tiber  by  an 
undertaking  only  to  use  iron  for  implements  of  agricul- 
ture, which,  of  course,  implies  the  disarming  of  the  people. 
The  Etruscans,  however,  were  soon  afterward  defeated 
by  a  united  force  of  the  Latins  and  the  Greeks  of  Cumae, 
and  driven  back  to  their  own  territory  north  of  the  Tiber. 

Rome  soon  recovered  from  the  check  she  had  received, 
and,  in  the  times  of  respite  from  civil  struggles,  was  en- 
gaged in  war  more  or  less  successful,  accounts  of  which 
are  more  or  less  legendary,  with  the  neighboring  cities 
and  peoples,  including  the  JEqm,  to  the  east,  the  Volsci, 
to  the  south,  the  city  of  Veii,  north  of  the  Tiber,  in  Etruria, 
and  the  Etruscans.  What  seems  certain  amidst  a  chaos 
of  romance  is  that  by  about  B.  C.  400  the  power  of  Etruria 
had  greatly  declined,  and  that  the  large,  wealthy  and 
powerful  city  of  Veii  had  been  taken  by  Rome  and  made 
her  permanent  possession.  The  Plebeians  received  lands 
in  the  Veientine  territory,  and  further  conquests  in  Etruria 
were  made,  including  the  city  of  FalenL 


206      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

The  Senonian  Gauls  (Senones)  were  a  powerful  Celtic 
tribe  between  the  Sequana  (Seine),  and  the  Ligeris 
(Loire).  A  part  of  this  people  about  B.  C.  400  crossed 
the  Alps  into  Cisalpine  Gaul,  made  settlements  in  Umbria, 
and  penetrated  into  Etruria.  The  Romans  sent  orders  to 
them  to  desist  from  the  siege  of  Clusium,  and  the  Gauls 
replied  by  marching  on  Rome.  The  result  was  a  total 
defeat  of  the  Roman  army  (in  B.  C.  390)  on  the  "black 
day  of  Allia,"  a  little  stream  to  the  north  of  Rome.  The 
day  was  marked  ever  afterward  in  the  Roman  calendar  as 
a  dies  nefastus  (unholy  day),  on  which  no  business  could 
be  lawfully  done,  and  no  sacrifice  offered  to  the  gods. 
Rome  was  then  taken  by  the  Gauls  and  burnt,  the  capitol 
itself  being  either  occupied  or  bought  off  by  payment  of 
ransom,  and  the  Gauls  then  retired  with  a  great  booty. 
The  result  to  Rome  was  disastrous  for  the  moment,  but  the 
Gallic  invasion  seems  to  have  done  Rome's  work  for  her 
in  one  direction  by  completely  crushing  her  old  enemies, 
the  JEqui,  who  now  disappear  as  an  independent  state. 
Rome  then  set  herself  to  obtain  by  intrigue,  alliances  and 
arms,  the  command  of  the  cities  of  Latium  and,  on  the 
rebuilding  of  the  city,  was  engaged  in  wars  as  before. 

The  Roman  contests  with  the  Volsci,  Etruscans  and 
Latin  states  were,  on  the  whole,  successful  for  Rome,  and 
by  B.  C.  375  the  south  of  Etruria  (lost  by  Rome  on  the 
Gallic  invasion)  had  become  permanently  Roman  terri- 
tory. In  B.  C.  356  the  Etruscans  were  defeated  by  Rutilus, 
the  first  Plebeian  censor  and  dictator,  and  further  attacks 
by  the  Gauls  were  repulsed.  Then  began  (about  B.  C. 
343)  a  struggle  of  the  rising  state  against  the  powerful 
nation  called  the  Samnites.  Rome  was  for  a  time  in  alli- 
ance with  towns  of  Latium  and  Campania,  and  her  war 
with  Samnium  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  conquest 
of  Italy.  Some  battles  were  gained  by  the  Romans,  but 


C.  MACCARI.  Pii 


IJTSULTXD  ST  Tss 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  20} 

in  B.  C.  340  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance  was  concluded 
with  Samnium,  and  Rome  then  found  herself  face  to  face 
with  a  league  of  the  Latins  and  Campanians. 

The  Latin  War  began  in  B.  C.  340,  and  lasted  for 
three  years.  The  Latin  and  allied  forces  were  defeated 
in  B.  C.  340  near  Mount  Vesuvius  by  a  Roman  army  under 
the  consuls  Manlius  Torquatus  and  Decius  Mus,  and  after 
another  Roman  victory  the  subjugation  of  Latium  was 
completed  in  B.  C.  338.  The  great  Latin  league  of  cities 
came  to  an  end;  the  lands  of  Latium  were  partly  allotted 
to  Roman  colonies  of  Plebeians  established  on  the  con- 
quered territory  as  garrisons.  Some  of  the  Latins  re- 
ceived the  Roman  citizenship,  and  some  were  made  mere 
subjects,  so  as  to  divide  the  interests  of  the  Latins  and 
permanently  strengthen  the  position  of  Rome.  At  the 
same  time  all  the  excluded  Latins  could  '.ook  forward  to 
acquiring  Roman  citizenship,  and  in  this  politic  way  the 
fidelity  of  all  to  Rome  was  secured. 

Thus  strengthened,  Rome  began  her  second  Samnite 
War  in  B.  C.  327,  engaging  in  a  struggle  for  life  and 
death,  in  which  the  Samnites  fought  with  the  heroic  cour- 
age of  their  race,  and  repeatedly  gained  great  battles  over 
the  Romans,  but  were  at  last  overpowered  by  Roman  per- 
severance, energy  and  skill.  The  chief  generals  on  the 
Roman  side  were  Papirius  Cursor,  five  times  consul  and 
twice  dictator,  and  Fabius  Maximus.  The  great  cham- 
pion of  the  Samnites  was  the  famous  Caius  Pontius.  In 
B.  C.  321,  after  some  victories,  the  Romans  suffered  both 
disaster  and  disgrace  in  the  surrender  of  a  whole  army 
to  the  Samnites,  entrapped  by  them  in  two  narrow  moun- 
tain passes  called  the  Caudine  Forks,  on  Mount  Taburnus, 
west  of  Bcneventum.  The  victorious  Pontius  showed  the 
greatest  humanity  to  the  conquered  Romans,  and  released 
the  army  on  terms,  which  the  Roman  government  repaid 


2oS      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

by  breaking  the  conditions  of  surrender,  and  refusing  to 
give  up  conquests  and  to  conclude  an  alliance.  The 
Romans  afterward  gained  the  upper  hand,  and  the  second 
Samnite  war  ended  in  B.  C.  304  by  a  temporary  submis- 
sion of  Samnium. 

The  Third  Samnite  War  began  in  B.  C.  298,  and  the 
Samnites  were  now  aided,  in  their  last  desperate  struggle 
for  national  independence,  by  the  Etruscans,  Umbrians 
and  Senonian  Gauls.  The  Samnite  generals,  Pontius, 
one  of  the  great  men  of  ancient  days,  and  Gellius  Egnatius, 
made  a  brilliant  strategical  move  by  marching  northward 
into  Etruria  and  joining  their  powerful  confederates  there 
with  their  whole  force.  In  B.  C.  295  the  decisive  battle  of 
Sentinum  (  in  Umbria)  was  fought.  There  the  Romans, 
under  Fabius  Maximus,  defeated  the  Samnite  confederates 
with  great  slaughter  and  the  loss  of  the  leader  Egnatius. 
For  five  years  more  the  struggle  was  protracted.  In  B.  C. 
292  the  gallant  Pontius  was  defeated,  taken  prisoner,  and 
barbarously  executed  by  the  Romans  at  their  general's 
triumph  in  Rome.  No  more  disgraceful  act  stains  the 
annals  of  Rome  than  this  cruel  treatment  of  the  generous 
and  gallant  foe  who,  nearly  thirty  years  before,  had  spared 
a  Roman  army  at  the  Caudine  Forks,  and  had  forborne  to 
seek  vengeance  for  the  vile  treachery  with  which  his  mercy 
was  requited.  The  great  modern  historian  of  Rome,  Dr. 
Arnold,  a  man  whose  own  admirable  character  lends 
crushing  weight  to  his  deliberate  condemnation  of  wrong, 
brands  this  infamous  deed  by  declaring  that  "it  proves  but 
too  clearly  that,  in  their  dealings  with  foreigners,  the 
Romans  had  neither  magnanimity,  nor  humanity,  nor 
justice."  After  the  loss  of  Pontius  the  Samnites  could 
only  keep  up  a  fitful  struggle  of  detached  parties,  while  the 
Roman  armies  marched  to  and  fro,  inflicting  utter  devasta- 
tion on  the  land.  In  B.  C.  290  the  war  ended  with  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  209 

entire  submission  of  exhausted  Samnium,  and  the  Romans 
were  now  placed,  by  the  conquest  of  the  Samnites  and 
Umbrians,  in  a  position  of  mastery  over  Central  Italy. 

The  Romans,  in  their  career  of  subjugation,  had  to  deal 
next  with  the  Etruscans,  and  with  the  old  foe,  the  Senonian 
Gauls.  In  B.  C.  283  the  great  battle  of  the  Vadimonian 
Lake  (in  Etruria)  was  fought,  and  its  results  were  great. 
The  united  army  of  the  Gauls  and  Etruscans  was  totally 
defeated.  Etruria's  day  was  done;  the  Senonian  Gauls 
were  "wiped  out." 

The  Romans  were  now  masters  of  all  Northern  Italy. 
In  B.  C.  282  came  the  struggle  in  Southern  Italy,  with  the 
Lucanians  and  Tarentines,  which  brought  the  Romans  into 
collision — legion  against  phalanx — for  the  first  time,  with 
Greek  methods  of  warfare.  After  Roman  defeats  by 
Pyrrhus  in  B.  C.  280  (when  the  Consul  Laevinus  was 
beaten  at  Heraclea,  in  Lucania,  on  the  river  Siris),  and  in 
B.  C.  279  at  Asculum  (in  Apulia),  the  war  was  virtually 
ended  by  the  rout  of  Pyrrhus  at  Beneventum  (in  Samni- 
um) in  B.  C.  275.  The  Roman  victor  was  the  renowned 
consul  Curius  Dentatus,  a  fine  specimen  of  the  old  Roman 
for  courage,  determination,  and  rugged  simplicity  of  char- 
acter and  life.  He  was  of  Sabine  origin;  and  soon  after 
the  magnificent  triumph  he  retired  to  his  little  farm  in  the 
Sabine  territory,  and  tilled  it  with  his  own  hands.  The 
defeat  of  Pyrrhus  was  followed  by  the  capture  of  Taren- 
tum,  and  the  submission  of  the  Lucanians,  Bruttians,  and 
all  other  peoples  who  had  hitherto  held  out,  or  risen, 
encouraged  by  Pyrrhus,  against  Roman  power  in  Central 
and  Southern  Italy.  By  the  year  B.  C.  266  the  Roman 
conquest  of  Italy  was  completed,  and  the  city  on  the  Tiber 
was  mistress  of  the  whole  extent  of  the  land,  from  the 
rivers  Rubicon  (in  north  of  Umbria)  and  Macra  (in 

northwest  of  Etruria),  on  the  north  (the  frontiers  of  Cisal- 
Vot..  1  —  14 


iio      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

pine  Gaul),  to  the  towns  of  Rhegium  (on  southwest  coast 
— the  toe),  and  Brundusium  (on  the  Adriatic  Sea — at  the 
heel),  in  the  south  of  Italy. 

Rome  had  thus  become  the  most  compact  and  powerful 
state  in  existence,  and  she  was  now  to  show  the  genius  of 
her  people  for  government  by  the  method  in  which  the 
Romans  consolidated  and  organized  the  territory  which 
they  had  won.  The  conquered  nations  of  Italy  kept  in  the 
main  their  own  laws,  languages  and  administrations,  but 
they  looked  to  Rome  as  their  center  and  their  leader,  whom 
they  were  bound  to  follow  in  war,  and  in  connection  with 
whom  alone  future  advantages  were  to  be  acquired. 

The  whole  of  Italy  now  comprised,  in  a  political  sense, 
three  classes.  These  were,  first,  the  Roman  citizens 
(Gives  Romani),  forming  the  Roman  people  in  the  strict 
technical  sense  (populus  Romanus),  the  governing  body 
of  the  whole  state.  These  citizens  belonged  to  the  thirty- 
five  tribes,  or  wards,  or  parishes,  into  which  the  territory 
of  the  city  of  Rome  was  divided,  north  of  the  Tiber  beyond 
Veii,  and  south  to  the  river  Liris;  to  Roman  colonies  estab- 
lished in  different  parts  of  Italy;  to  various  municipal 
towns  which  had  received  the  Roman  franchise.  Nearly 
all  of  these  citizens  (the  exceptions  being  the  inhabitants 
of  some  of  the  municipal  towns)  had  a  right  of  voting  in 
the  Comitia  Tributa  at  Rome. 

Second,  the  Latins  (called  "Nomen  Latinum,"  or,  "the 
Latin  name") .  This  must  be  understood  in  a  technical,  not 
in  a  local,  sense  (as  the  towns  of  Latium  were  mostly 
municipalities  with  the  Roman  franchise),  and  applies  to 
those  who  belonged  to  towns  having  the  Latin  franchise, 
given  originally  to  the  conquered  towns  of  Latium.  Any 
male  inhabitant  of  a  town  with  this  "Latin  franchise" 
could,  by  holding  a  public  office  in  his  own  town,  become  a 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  211 

full  Roman  citizen  of  the  tribes,  if  he  chose  to  remove  to 
Rome. 

Last,  the  Socii  or  Allies  (called  also  Fcederatae  Civi- 
tates,  or  Foederati)  ;  these  were  all  the  other  communities 
of  Italy,  not  included  in  first  or  second.  These  "Allied 
States"  really  existed  in  various  degrees  of  subjection  to 
Rome,  having  no  political  privileges,  and  being  bound  to 
furnish  troops  for  the  Roman  armies,  but  enjoying  her 
powerful  protection  against  foreign  enemies.  With  re- 
gard to  the  Nomen  Latinum  and  the  Socii,  Rome  (the 
Gives  Romani)  retained  the  sovereign  rights  of  making 
war  in  which  all  must  join,  concluding  treaties  by  which 
all  were  bound,  and  coining  money  which  all  must  recog- 
nize and  circulate.  In  this  excellent  political  system, 
which  "reconciled  municipal  freedom  with  the  unity  and 
supremacy  of  the  central  power,"  we  see  the  fitness  of 
Rome  to  govern  what  she  had  conquered,  and  how  well 
she  was  adapted  by  the  genius  of  her  people  to  subdue  and 
to  form  the  world  into  one  vast  Empire.  By  the  con- 
quest of  Italy  the  wealth  of  the  Roman  state  was  greatly 
increased  in  the  revenues  derived  from  mines,  forests  and 
harbors  which  she  had  acquired ;  the  Patricians  and  Plebe- 
ians alike  obtained  lands  to  hold  and  to  till;  a  solid  basis 
of  power  was  obtained,  on  which  to  erect  the  imposing 
fabric  of  her  vast  dominion  in  the  days  to  come. 

Great  roads  were  first  made  with  military  purpose  of 
providing  a  way  that  should  be  solid  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  for  the  march  of  legions  and  their  heavy  baggage 
through  districts  subdued  by  Roman  arms.  They  were 
wonderful  pieces  of  determined  practical  engineering,  and 
in  order  to  carry  them  straight  to  the  points  aimed  at, 
marshes  and  hollows  were  filled  up,  or  spanned  with 
viaducts;  mountains  were  tunneled,  streams  were  bridged; 
no  labor,  time  nor  money  was  spared.  As  they  extended 


their  power  through  Italy,  the  Romans  constructed  such 
roads  as  these  in  various  directions  from  the  capital,  and 
these  great  highways  in  Italy  must  be  understood  as  repre- 
senting others  which  were  afterward  made,  as  need  arose, 
in  every  part  of  the  Roman  Empire.  First  and  greatest 
of  the  Italian  roads  was  the  famous  Appian  Way  (Via 
Appia,  called  Regina  Viarum,  "Queen  of  Roads"),  which 
was  begun  by  Appius  Claudius,  censor  in  B.  C.  312.  The 
struggle  with  the  Samnites  was  at  its  height  when  this 
great  causeway,  built  with  large  square  stones  on  a  raised 
platform,  was  made  direct  from  the  gates  of  Rome  to 
Capua,  in  Campania.  The  Via  Appia  was  afterward 
extended,  through  Samnium  and  Apulia,  to  Brundusium, 
on  the  lower  Adriatic,  the  port  of  embarkation  for  Greece. 
Parts  of  the  original  stonework  are  existing  at  this  day. 
Other  great  roads  in  Italy  were  the  Via  Aurelia — the  great 
coast-road  northward,  by  Genua  (Genoa),  into  Transal- 
pine Gaul ; — the  Via  Flaminia,  through  Umbria  to  Arim- 
inum;  and  the  Via  ^Emilia,  from  Ariminum,  through 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  to  Placentia. 

We  here  interpose,  as  a  truce  between  the  clash  of  arms 
in  Rome's  conquest  of  Italy  and  in  her  foreign  wars,  a 
short  account  of  the  Roman  gods  and  worship  at  the  time 
when  an  "age  of  faith"  in  Paganism  still  existed.  The 
two  original  deities  of  the  Roman  Pantheon  who  belonged 
to  it  in  common  with  that  of  the  Greeks  (with  whom,  as 
Aryans,  they  had  a  common  ancestry),  were  the  great 
Jupiter  (answering  to  the  Greek  Zeus),  and  Vesta  (the 
Greek  Hestia).  The  chief  deity  of  the  tribes  of  Italy  was 
Mars  or  Mavors,  the  god  of  "manliness,"  and  then,  by  a 
transition  natural  with  the  Romans,  the  god  of  war.  The 
Roman  gods  of  similar  name  to  the  Greek  deities  had  often 
very  different  attributes,  and  must  never  be  confounded 
with  them.  The  Roman  Hercules  was  a  god  of  property 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  213 

and  commerce,  quite  distinct  from  the  Greek  demigod 
Heracles,  with  his  heroic  exploits  and  labors.  The  orig- 
inally Sabine  goddesses,  Juno,  the  type  of  queenly  woman- 
hood, and  Minerva,  the  embodiment  of  wisdom,  were  great 
deities  at  Rome.  Janus,  the  god  of  opening  and  shutting 
(really  a  form  of  the  sun-god,  who  opens  the  day  at  his 
rising,  and  shuts  up  light  at  his  setting)  is  well  known 
from  his  image  with  double  face,  and  from  the  covered 
passage  at  Rome  (wrongly  called  a  temple),  which  was 
left  open  in  war  and  closed  up  in  peace.  Janus  is  only 
another  form  of  Dianus  (god  of  day),  and  his  sister  was 
Diana,  the  moon  goddess.  We  find  also,  as  remnants  of 
the  olden  worship  before  Rome  existed,  certain  deities  of 
country  life.  Saturnus  was  god  of  sowing  and  tillage,  in 
whose  honor  a  great  festival  in  December  was  celebrated, 
called  the  Saturnalia — a  time  of  holiday,  feasting,  and 
social  freedom  for  seven  days.  Ceres  was  goddess  of  the 
corn  crops;  Pales  and  Faunus  deities  of  flocks  and  shep- 
herds. The  chief  domestic  worship  was  that  of  Vesta,  as 
goddess  of  the  hearth,  at  whose  rites  the  Roman  father  of 
the  household  officiated  as  priest,  and  only  kinsmen  could 
be  present;  and  of  the  Lares  and  Penates,  the  spirits  of 
ancestors  and  guardians  of  the  home.  The  mythical  king, 
Romulus,  was  worshiped  under  the  name  of  Quirinus. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  will  of  the  gods  in  important 
matters,  the  Romans  employed  Augurs  to  observe  the 
flash  of  lightning  and  the  flight  of  birds.  This  was  done 
before  every  public  act  or  ceremony — the  holding  of 
Comitia  and  the  fighting  of  a  battle;  and  in  taking  the 
auspices,  as  the  mummery  of  these  officials  was  called,  the 
Augur  stood  in  a  space  of  ground  which  he  had  conse- 
crated by  a  ceremonial  for  the  purpose.  Then,  facing  the 
south,  he  watched  for  a  reply  to  his  prayers,  beseeching  an 
expression  of  the  divine  will.  A  flight  of  birds  or  other 


2i4      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

sign,  appearing  on  the  right  hand,  was  unfavorable;  on 
the  left,  propitious.  The  Augur  waited  till  the  desired 
event  occurred,  and  then  announced  the  result.  If  no 
Augur  were  present,  signs  might  be  sought  from  the  "sac- 
red chickens,"  carried  about  with  an  army  on  campaigns : 
if  they  ate  their  food  heartily,  it  was  favorable;  if  not, 
unlucky.  In  the  first  Punic  war  a  Roman  consul,  who  had 
the  chickens  with  him  on  shipboard  for  the  purpose  of 
augury,  was  informed  that  they  would  not  eat  at  all — the 
worst  sign  possible.  "Let  them  drink  then!"  he  cried, 
and  flung  them  overboard  into  the  sea.  This  may  be  taken 
as  an  example  of  how  educated  Romans,  long  before  the 
republic  ended,  flung  away  ancestral  creeds  and  super- 
stitions, and  became  adherents,  when  they  believed  in  any- 
thing, of  the  Greek  philosophers'  belief  in  one  divinity  of 
whom  they  had  their  various  conceptions. 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST 

Rome  now  engaged  in  the  greatest  conflict  of  her  his- 
tory— that  with  the  powerful  maritime  and  commercial 
state,  Carthage.  It  was  a  struggle  which  when  it  was 
fully  developed,  became  for  Rome  a  fight  for  national 
existence,  in  which  her  enemy  was  at  the  height  of  her 
power  and  resources,  with  Spain  and  Africa  at  her  back, 
and  with  the  first  general  of  the  age,  perhaps  of  all  ages, 
to  command  her  armies.  The  interest  of  the  Punic  wars 
(as  they  are  called  from  the  word  Punicus,  the  Latin 
equivalent  of  the  Greek  Phoinikikos — Phoenician,  and,  in 
a  limited  sense,  Carthaginian,  as  used  by  the  Greek  his- 
torian Polybius)  is  great  and  enduring.  These  wars  were 
fought  out  "not  merely  to  decide  the  fate  of  two  cities,  or 
of  two  Empires;  but  to  determine  which  of  the  two  races, 
the  Indo-Germanic  (otherwise  Indo-European  or  Aryan), 
or  the  Semitic,  should  have  the  dominion  of  the  world. 
On  the  one  side —  the  Aryan — was  the  genius  for  war, 
government,  and  legislation ;  on  the  other — the  Semitic — 
the  spirit  of  industry,  navigation,  and  commerce.  The 
future  of  Europe  and  the  world  depended  on  the  issue  of 
the  contest,  and  the  skill  and  valor,  the  determination  and 
resource,  displayed  on  both  sides,  have  caused  these  wars 
of  Rome  and  Carthage  to  remain  most  vividly  impressed 
upon  the  memories  of  men." 

Carthage  had  become,  by  the  political  and  commercial 
energy  of  her  citizens,  the  leading  Phoenician  state,  ruling 
over  Utica,  Hippo,  Leptis,  and  other  cities  of  Phoenician 
origin  in  Northern  Africa.  The  Carthaginians  paid  also 
great  attention  to  agriculture,  and  the  whole  of  their  terri- 


216      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

tory  was  cultivated  like  a  garden,  supplying  the  population 
with  abundance  of  food.  This  fact,  considered  with  the 
wealth  derived  from  her  commerce,  explains  to  us  how  it 
was  that  a  city  with  no  large  extent  of  territory  was  en- 
abled to  hold  out  so  long  against  the  utmost  efforts  of 
Rome,  and  at  one  period  to  bring  her,  as  it  seemed,  to  the 
verge  of  ruin.  The  political  constitution  of  Carthage  was 
that  of  an  oligarchical  republic,  and  her  aristocracy  is 
famed  for  the  number  of  able  men  that  came  forth  from 
its  ranks.  On  the  other  hand,  Carthage  was  weakened 
by  the  facts  that  she  was  dependent  on  mercenary  troops 
in  her  wars,  subject  to  revolts  at  home  among  the  native 
populations  whom  she  oppressed,  and  hampered  by  the 
factious  spirit  prevalent  among  her  leading  men.  Carth- 
age had  a  great  commercial  genius,  but  no  gift  for  assimil- 
ating conquered  peoples,  or  for  establishing  an  Empire 
on  a  solid  and  enduring  basis,  and  therefore,  in  the  end, 
she  succumbed  to  Rome,  whose  part  it  was  to  bring  the 
nations  under  one  wide  long-enduring  sway.  The  strug- 
gle of  Carthage  against  Rome  became,  in  fact,  the  contest 
of  a  man  of  the  greatest  abilities — Hannibal — against  a 
nation  of  the  utmost  energy  and  determination,  and  the 
nation,  in  the  long  run,  won  the  day. 

The  Carthaginians,  at  this  time,  held  Corsica,  Sardinia 
and  various  colonies  in  Spain  and  possessions  in  Sicily. 
It  was  in  Sicily  that  the  cause  of  quarrel  between  Rome 
and  Carthage  was  found,  and  Rome  picked  the  quarrel  by 
interference  in  a  local  matter  at  Messana.  Hiero,  King 
of  Syracuse,  soon  came  over  to  the  Romans,  who,  after 
defeating  the  Carthaginian  army  and  taking  Agrigentum 
(B.  C.  262),  determined  to  make  themselves  masters  of 
Sicily.  For  this  a  fleet  was  needed,  and  with  Roman 
energy  they  set  to  work  and  built  one.  Twice  their 
squadrons  were  destroyed,  but  in  B.  C.  260  the  consul 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  217 

Duilius  gained  a  great  naval  victory  at  Mylae,  on  the 
northeast  coast  of  Sicily,  and  from  this  time  Rome  became 
more  and  more  nearly  a  match  for  Carthage  on  her  special 
element,  the  sea.  The  Romans  invaded  Africa  without 
success  (B.  C.  255),  but  were  generally  victorious  in 
Sicily.  In  B.  C.  247  the  great  Hamilcar  Barca  (father 
of  Hannibal  and  Hasdrubal)  was  appointed  to  the  Car- 
thaginian command  in  Scicily,  and  maintained  himself 
there  with  great  patience  and  skill  against  all  the  Roman 
efforts.  In  B.  C.  241,  however,  the  Roman  commander 
Lutatius  Catulus  utterly  defeated  the  Carthaginian  fleet  off 
the  Agates  Islands,  on  the  west  coast  of  Sicily,  and  the 
Carthaginians  then  gave  in.  Sicily  thus  became  (B.  C. 
241)  the  first  Roman  province,  the  whole  island  coming 
into  the  hands  of  Rome,  except  the  territory  of  her  faithful 
ally,  Hiero  of  Syracuse. 

The  Romans,  with  gross  ill-faith  and  injustice,  took 
advantage  of  a  revolt  against  Carthage  by  her  mercenary 
troops  to  deprive  her  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica  (B.  C.  238), 
and  Sardinia  was  made  into  a  province.  The  next  exploit 
of  Rome  was  the  conquest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  which  was 
completed  by  B.  C.  222,  and  the  Roman  hold  upon  the 
new  territory  was  confirmed  by  the  establishment  of  mili- 
tary colonies  at  Placentia  and  Cremona. 

Carthage  had  resolved  upon  revenge  for  past  defeats 
and  injuries  from  Rome,  and  intrusted  her  cause  to 
Hamilcar  Barca.  He  formed  the  bold  and  ingenious  plan 
of  creating  for  his  country  a  new  empire  in  Spain,  which 
might  be  used  as  a  fresh  base  of  operations  against  the  foe 
whom  he  hated  with  a  deadly  hate.  From  B.  C.  237  to 
229  (when  he  fell  in  battle)  he  was  engaged  in  reducing  a 
large  part  of  Spain  to  submission  by  diplomacy  and  force. 
In  B.  C.  221  his  son,  the  illustrious  Hannibal,  took  up 
the  Spanish  command,  and  he  soon  brought  on  a  new 


218      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

conflict  with  Rome  by  his  capture  of  her  ally  the  city  of 
Saguntum,  on  the  northeast  coast  of  Spain. 

The  Second  Punic  War  is  too  well  known  in  every 
detail  to  need  much  description  here.  The  hero  of  the 
contest  is  Hannibal,*  one  of  the  purest  and  noblest  charac- 
ters in  history — a  man  of  whom  we  know  nothing  save 
from  his  foes,  and  all  their  wrath  and  envy  have  not  been 
able  to  disfigure  the  portrait  which  the  facts  have  forced 
them  to  transmit  to  future  ages.  Great  as  a  statesman, 
supremely  great  as  a  soldier,  beloved  by  his  troops,  and 
justly  dreaded  by  the  most  warlike  people  of  the  ancient 
world,  Hannibal  stands  forth  an  object  for  the  highest 
admiration  and  esteem.  Of  his  military  capacity  it  is 
needless  to  say  more  than  this,  that  two  of  the  ablest  Gen- 
erals that  ever  lived,  Napoleon  and  Wellington,  both  pro- 
nounced Hannibal  to  be  the  greatest  of  all  commanders. 

In  B.  C.  218  the  Carthaginian  General  crossed  the 
Alps  after  a  five  months'  march  from  Spain,  and 
descended  with  a  storm  of  war  upon  the  Romans.  With 
a  force  of  20,000  foot  and  6,000  horse  he  encountered 
the  consular  armies  and  defeated  them  at  the  Rivers 
Ticinus  and  Trebia  (B.  C.  218),  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  the 
Thrasymene  Lake  in  Etruria  (B.  C.  217),  and,  more  de- 
cisively than  all,  and  with  immense  slaughter,  at  Cannae, 
in  Apulia,  in  B.  C.  216.  For  fifteen  years  (B.  C.  218- 
202)  Hannibal  maintained  his  ground  in  Italy,  defeating 
the  Romans  again  and  again,  opposed  by  the  cautious  Fa- 
bius  Maximus  and  the  daring  Marcellus  (the  conqueror  of 
Syracuse),  but  unable  to  capture  Rome,  or  to  subdue 
Roman  steadfastness  and  courage. 

The  chief  causes  of  the  ultimate  failure  of  Hannibal, 
besides  the  doggedness  of  Rome's  resistance,  were  the 
faithfulness  of  many  of  Rome's  allies,  especially  the 
*  See  volume  "  World's  Famous  Warriors." 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  219 

Latins,  in  Italy,  the  success  of  Roman  armies  under  Pub- 
lius  Scipio  in  Spain  (which  was  for  the  time  subdued  by 

B.  C.  205),  and  the  want  of  due  support  by  Carthage  to 
her  great  leader.     The  crisis  came  in  B.  C.  207,  when 
Hannibal's  brother,  Hasdrubal,  crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy 
with  a  powerful  army  which,  joined  with  Hannibal's  in 
Southern  Italy,  would  probably  have  effected  the  conquest 
of  Rome,  now  almost  exhausted  by  her  efforts  and  defeats. 
This  was  not  to  be.  Hasdrubal  was  encountered,  defeated, 
and  slain  by  the  Romans  at  the  decisive  battle  of  the 
Metaurus  (a  river  in  Umbria),  one  of  the  great  critical 
contests  in  the  history  of  the  world.     The  junction  of  the 
forces  thus  prevented,  Rome  was  saved,  and  in  order  to 
be  rid  of  Hannibal  the  war  was  carried  now  into  the 
enemy's  country. 

Publius  Scipio,  who  had  been  so  successful  in  Spain, 
crossed  from  Sicily  to  Africa  in  B.  C.  204,  and  did  so 
well  for  Rome  that  Hannibal  was  recalled.  The  Second 
Punic  War  ended  with  the  defeat  of  Hannibal  by  Scipio  at 
Zama  (five  days'  journey  from  Carthage)  in  B.  C.  202. 
The  conqueror  gained  the  surname  of  Africanus.  Han- 
nibal lost  his  army,  but  not  his  fame.  Rome  was  made 
certain  now  to  rule  the  world.  The  terms  of  peace  with 
Carthage  made  her  for  the  time  a  mere  dependency  of 
Rome.  All  her  foreign  possessions  were  given  up;  her 
fleet  was  reduced  to  ten  ships;  she  was  to  make  no  war 
without  Rome's  permission;  an  enormous  war-indemnity 
was  exacted. 

In  B.  C.  213  Rome  attacked  Philip  V,  King  of  Mace- 
don,  because  he  had  made  a  treaty  with  Carthage,  and 
after  concluding  an  alliance  with  the  ^Etolians  the  Romans 
gained  some  successes  over  Philip  in  the  First  Macedonian 
War,  ending  in  205.  The  Second  Macedonian  War  (B. 

C.  200-197)  put  an  end  to  Macedon's  supremacy  in  Greece 


220      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

by  the  victory  of  the  ex-consul  Flamininus  at  Cynos- 
cephalae  in  Thessaly,  B.  C.  197.  Antiochus  the  Great  of 
Syria  was  next  attacked.  He  had  irritated  Rome  by 
meddling  in  the  affairs  of  Greece,  which  he  invaded  in  B. 
C.  192.  He  was  defeated  by  the  Roman  armies  both  in 
Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  and  in  B.  C.  188  made  peace  on 
terms  that  left  Roman  influence  supreme  in  Asia  Minor 
as  far  as  the  borders  of  Syria. 

Hannibal,  the  great  Carthaginian,  even  after  Zama, 
had  not  despaired  of  himself  or  of  his  country.  He  set 
vigorously  to  work  at  internal  reforms  in  Carthage  with 
a  view  to  renewing  the  contest  with  Rome;  but  being 
thwarted  by  jealous  and  unpatriotic  rivals,  who  also  in- 
trigued for  his  surrender  to  the  Romans,  he  fled  to  the 
court  of  Antiochus  the  Great  of  Syria  in  B.  C.  194.  In 
throwing  away  her  greatest  man  Carthage  had  lost  her 
last  chance  of  regaining  any  real  power.  Hannibal  was 
driven  from  his  shelter  with  Antiochus  by  the  Roman 
demand  for  his  surrender,  and  took  refuge  with  Prusias, 
King  of  Bithynia,  for  some  years ;  but  Roman  dread  of  his 
abilities  and  influence  pursued  him,  and,  hopeless  of  escape, 
he  poisoned  himself  about  B.  C.  183,  leaving  Rome  free  at 
last  to  pursue  her  victorious  career  without  any  opponent 
likely  to  arrest  it.  A  third  Macedonian  War,  begun  in 
B.  C.  171,  was  waged  by  the  Romans  against  King  Per- 
seus, son  of  Philip  V,  and  ended  with  a  great  Roman 
victory  at  Pydna  in  B.  C.  168,  and  the  extinction  of  Mace- 
don  as  a  kingdom.  After  a  revolt,  called  the  Fourth 
Macedonian  War,  and  a  war  against  the  forces  of  the 
Achaean  League,  Corinth  was  taken  by  Mummius,  and 
Macedonia  and  Greece  became  Roman  provinces  (B.  C. 
147-146). 

There  was  a  powerful  party  in  Rome  (headed  by  the 
famous  and  stern  censor,  Porcius  Cato),  who  relentlessly 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  221 

insisted  on  the  destruction  of  Carthage.  Her  warlike 
neighbor,  Masinissa,  King  of  Numidia,  was  encouraged  by 
the  Romans  in  harassing  attacks,  and  in  B.  C.  149  Rome 
found  a  pretext  for  war.  Her  forces  could  not  be  resisted, 
and  Carthage  offered  a  complete  submission,  seeking  the 
preservation  of  her  commerce  and  her  capital  by  a  sur- 
render of  arms,  warships,  and  the  internal  independence 
hitherto  belonging  to  her.  When  Rome  insisted  on  the 
destruction  of  the  city  of  Carthage  itself,  and  the  removal 
of  the  inhabitants  to  inland  abodes,  the  Carthaginians  took 
counsel  of  despair,  and  resolved  to  stand  a  siege  within 
their  strong  fortifications.  Scipio  Africanus  Minor 
(really  a  son  of  yEmilius  Paulus,  the  conqueror  of  Mace- 
donia, and  adopted  by  a  Roman  custom  into  the  Scipio 
family)  conducted  the  three  years'  siege  of  the  great  com- 
mercial city  and  her  citadel,  and  Roman  determination  as 
usual  carried  its  point.  After  fearful  house-to-house 
fighting  the  remnant  of  700,000  people  surrendered ;  the 
place  was  set  on  fire,  and  burned  for  seventeen  days ;  the 
ruins  were  leveled  with  the  ground,  and  Carthage  the 
proud  city,  alike  with  Carthage  the  commercial  state,  had 
ceased  to  exist,  in  B.  C.  146,  the  same  year  as  saw  the  final 
conquest  of  Greece.  Part  of  the  territory  was  given  to 
Masinissa  of  Numidia,  Rome's  ally,  part  became  the 
Roman  Province  of  Africa. 

The  great  peninsula  to  the  west  of  Italy  was  inhabited 
chiefly  by  people  called  Iberians  (not  of  Aryan  race),  and 
by  Celtic  tribes,  who  had  made  their  way  into  the  central 
part  of  the  land.  During  the  Second  Punic  War  the  Car- 
thaginian dominion  in  Spain  had  been  gained  for  Rome 
by  the  Scipio's ;  but  the  inhabitants  have  always  been  hard 
to  master  thoroughly  in  war,  and  even  the  Romans  found 
the  task  long  and  difficult.  The  north  and  northwest  of 
die  country,  indeed,  remained  independent  till  the  time 


223      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  the  Empire.  The  Celtiberians,  tribes  of  mixed  origin  in 
Central  Spain,  were  conquered  by  about  B.  C.  180,  after 
a  long  resistance.  The  part  of  Lusitania  (modern  Portu- 
gal) to  the  south  of  the  Tagus  was  mastered  after  a  brave 
struggle  maintained  for  some  years  by  a  gallant  leader 
named  Viriathus,  with  whom  the  Romans  made  a  treaty, 
prior  to  his  assassination  by  their  connivance,  in  B.  C. 
140.  The  conquest  of  the  center  and  south  of  Spain  was 
completed  in  the  capture  and  destruction  of  the  strong  city 
of  Numantia,  near  the  source  of  the  Douro,  by  Scipio 
Africanus  Minor  (the  younger)  in  B.  C.  133.  The  coun- 
try had  long  before  been  divided  by  Rome  into  two  prov- 
inces, respectively  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  Iberus  or 
Ebro,  called  Hispania  Citerior  and  Hispania  Ulterior 
("hither"  and  "further"  Spain). 

The  subjugation  of  Spain,  though  still  incomplete,  was 
an  important  event  in  the  development  of  the  Roman 
dominion  on  the  Mediterranean  coasts.  In  subduing 
Spain,  Rome  was  taking  civilization  to  a  land  of  peoples 
almost  new  to  the  culture  of  the  east  and  center  of  the 
Mediterranean  world.  The  inhabitants  were  brave,  tem- 
perate, hardy,  warlike,  proud,  and  strongly  attached  to 
freedom,  and  they  were  now  to  show  themselves,  in  a 
marked  degree,  capable  of  taking  up  the  new  ideas,  cus- 
toms, and  language  conveyed  into  their  midst  by  the  con- 
querors. The  country  was  in  course  of  time  quite  trans- 
formed and  Romanized ;  the  Latin  language  was  adopted, 
the  literature  both  of  Greece  and  Rome  was  taught  in  the 
schools,  and  under  the  emperors  many  distinguished 
authors  in  the  Latin  tongue  were  of  Spanish  birth.  The 
modern  language  of  the  country  is  so  closely  derived  from 
Latin  that  a  scholar  can  readily  divine  the  general  mean- 
ing without  special  study.  The  kingdom  of  Pergamus 
became  very  extensive  after  the  defeat  by  the  Romans  of 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  223 

Antiochus  the  Great  of  Syria  in  B.  C.  190.  Rome  then 
gave  nearly  all  the  south  and  west  of  Asia  Minor  to  Eum- 
enes  II,  King  of  Pergamus.  In  B.  C.  133,  King  Attalus 
III  bequeathed  the  whole  of  his  dominions  to  the  Roman 
people,  and  the  Province  of  Asia  was  formed. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  period  now  treated  of — B.  C. 
266 — Rome  possessed  only  the  peninsula  of  Italy;  nor 
was  she  mistress  of  the  whole  of  that,  for  Liguria,  south  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  was  not  subdued  till  long  after  the  second 
Punic  War.  At  the  close  of  this  epoch — by  B.  C.  133 — 
Rome  was  the  one  great  power  of  the  world — possessor  of 
most  that  was  worth  having  (save  Gaul,  Egypt,  and 
Syria)  on  the  Mediterranean  shores.  In  Europe,  Asia, 
Africa,  she  ruled  these  territories — Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia, 
Corsica,  Cisalpine  Gaul,  the  south  and  center  of  Spain, 
the  late  territory  of  Carthage  in  Africa,  Northern  and 
Southern  Greece,  and  most  of  Asia  Minor.  Wherever  she 
had  not  yet  carried  her  conquering  arms,  the  Roman  name 
had  become  one  of  fear  to  the  nations  who  had  seen  coun- 
try after  country  mastered  or  absorbed  by  the  all-embrac- 
ing, irresistible  Republic.  The  conquered  provinces  were 
governed  by  ex-consuls  and  ex-praetors,  who  went  out 
there  with  the  title  of  Proconsul  or  Propraetor,  attended 
by  a  whole  army  of  officials.  The  wealthy  order  in  the 
state  known  as  the  Equites  (Knights)  farmed  the  taxes 
and  the  tribute  levied  from  the  pfovincials,  and  publicani, 
or  collectors  of  public  "revenue  (the  publicans  of  Scrip- 
ture), were  scattered  over  the  whole  Roman  world,  and 
were  held  in  very  bad  repute.  The  Proconsuls  and  Pro- 
praetors had  the  highest  military  and  civil  powers  in  their 
governments,  and  their  eager  desire  to  return  to  Rome 
with  abundant  means  caused  gross  oppression  of  the  people 
in  the  provinces.  The  grand  passion  of  the  Romans  at 
this  time  was  to  amass  money,  whether  by  plunder  in  war, 


224      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

usury  at  home,  or  speculation  and  commerce  abroad.  The 
provincial  governors  received  gifts  from  states  and  kings 
not  yet  subdued,  bribes  for  their  decisions  in  law-suits,  and 
a  share  of  the  plunder  made  by  extortionate  tax-gatherers. 

As  the  Senate  alone  appointed  the  provincial  gov- 
ernors, and  confined  the  appointments  to  Senators,  it  was 
the  chief  object  of  a  rising  citizen  of  Rome  to  become  a 
member  of  that  ruling  body.  The  position  could  only  be 
reached  by  holding  the  high  offices  in  the  state,  and  in 
order  to  secure  election  by  the  assemblies  (Comitia)  to 
these  offices,  it  was  needful  to  get  the  votes  of  the  people 
by  providing  expensive  shows  in  the  theater  and  circus, 
and,  as  the  degradation  deepened,  by  direct  bribes.  After 
passing  through  the  qusestorship,  aedileship,  prsetorship, 
and  consulship  on  these  terms,  a  man  would  enter  the 
Senate  with  an  enormous  load  of  debt,  and  could  only  hope 
to  pay  his  creditors  and  acquire  a  fortune  for  himself  by 
the  proceeds  of  his  term  of  office  in  a  province  as  Proprae- 
tor or  Proconsul.  It  is  true  that  a  provincial  governor 
was  liable  to  prosecution  at  Rome  on  his  return,  for  crimes 
committed  in  his  public  capacity ;  but  the  Senatorial  judges 
before  whom  he  would  have  to  appear  were  as  much  open 
to  bribes  as  the  voters  in  the  Comitia,  and  part  of  the  plun- 
der of  the  provinces  was  thus  devoted  to  securing  im- 
punity at  Rome  for  those  who  robbed  Rome's  unhappy 
subjects. 

The  old  class  of  Roman  citizens,  under  the  military 
system  of  universal  service  and  the  losses  of  the  Punic 
and  other  wars,  had  greatly  diminished  in  numbers.  The 
soldiers  of  the  armies  that  went  out  to  the  provinces  often 
remained  there  as  military  colonists,  and  Rome  and  Italy 
received  in  exchange  millions  of  foreign  slaves.  These 
men,  frequently  set  free,  became  Roman  citizens,  and  the 
old  race,  both  in  the  city  and  in  Italy  at  large,  rapidly 


HISTORY  OF  RQME  235 

degenerated  through  intermarriages  of  Italians  with  these 
foreigners  from  all  quarters  of  the  Roman  world.  The 
lower  order  in  Rome  thus  became  in  time  a  mere  mob, 
living  in  idleness  by  the  price  of  its  votes,  and  on  the  cheap 
or  gratuitous  corn  from  Sicily  and  Africa,  which  was 
distributed  by  the  Senate  to  appease  popular  discontents. 
The  original  Patricians  and  Plebeians  had  become  classes 
of  rich  men  and  paupers,  with  no  middle  class  of  yeoman- 
farmers  (or  peasant-proprietors)  and  merchants  to  hold 
the  political  balance,  and  give  stability  to  the  constitutional 
order  of  things. 

The  sudden  and  vast  increase  of  wealth  flowing  to 
Rome  from  such  conquests  as  those  of  Carthage,  Greece, 
and  Asia,  brought  with  it  great  luxury  and  its  attendant 
vices.  The  newly-enriched  Senators  and  knights,  spurn- 
ing the  protests  and  scorning  the  example  of  such  men  as 
Cato  the  Censor,  and  those  who  kept  to  the  olden  simple 
style  of  life,  plunged  into  all  the  extravagances  that  Greek 
and  Asiatic  fashions  prompted,  and  that  Roman  want  of 
purity  in  taste  soon  carried  to  a  monstrous  excess.  Money 
was  lavished  upon  mansions  in  Rome,  decked  out  with 
richest  furniture  and  plate;  on  country  houses,  pleasure- 
grounds,  and  fish-ponds  to  supply  a  favorite  Roman  food ; 
on  dancing-girls,  musicians,  and  troops  of  like  artistic  or 
of  menial  slaves ;  on  foreign  wines  and  dainty  dishes ;  on 
toadies  and  buffoons.  The  old  regard  for  marriage  and 
the  sanctity  of  home  declined,  and  Roman  conquests  had 
thus  caused  evils  that  were  swiftly  sapping  the  very  foun- 
dations of  the  free  state — the  grand  old  republic  of  Rome. 

A  more  beneficial  use  of  the  new  wealth  was  the  em- 
ployment of  it  by  ambitious  men,  and  by  the  state  officials, 
on  works  of  public  service  and  adornment  There  were 
buildings  at  Rome  called  Basilicae,  which  served  as  courts 
of  law  and  as  places  of  meeting  for  men  of  business.  Of 
Voi,.  1—15 


226     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

these  (which  were  rectangular  halls,  with  rows  of  columns, 
and  a  recess  at  one  end  for  the  tribunal),  the  Basilica  Por- 
cia  was  erected  in  B.  C.  184,  the  Basilica  Fulvia  in  179, 
and  the  Basilica  Sempronia  in  171.  The  Porticoes  (Por- 
ticus)  were  covered  with  paved  walks,  open  on  one  side, 
and  supported  by  columns.  The  Porticus  Metelli  was 
built  by  the  Propraetor  Metellus  after  his  triumph  over 
Perseus,  King  of  Macedonia,  B.  C.  146.  Among  the  most 
important  and  celebrated  of  the  public  works  of  ancient 
Rome  were  the  Aqueducts  (Aquaeductus  or  Aquae),  for 
supplying  the  city  with  water  from  the  hills  outside. 
Some  of  these  are  still  used  to  supply  modern  Rome.  Of 
others  the  stupendous  remains  are  visible  in  the  Campagna 
di  Roma  (the  undulating  district  round  Rome),  and  in 
various  countries  which  were  formerly  provinces  of  the 
Empire.  The  first  of  these  was  the  Aqua  Appia,  begun 
by  the  censor  Appius  Claudius  in  B.  C.  313.  The  Anio 
Vetus  (or  "ancient  Anio"),  begun  in  B.  C.  273,  brought 
water  to  Rome  from  the  river  Anio,  eighteen  miles  away. 
It  was  mostly  underground,  and  the  windings  of  the  course 
taken  made  the  whole  work  over  forty  miles  in  length. 
The  Aqua  Marcia,  famed  for  the  coldness  and  purity  of 
the  water  which  it  conveyed,  was  built  in  B.  C.  144,  at  the 
public  expense,  by  the  praetor  Quintus  Marcius.  It  began 
nearly  forty  miles  from  Rome,  and  was  of  great  height  and 
solidity,  proceeding  for  several  miles  on  arches,  of  which 
remains  are  still  visible.  In  such  works  as  these  the 
Romans  displayed  their  practical  character. 

The  physical  might  of  Rome  had  subdued  Greece,  but 
the  mind  of  Greece  mastered  Rome.  The  Greeks  became 
the  teachers  of  their  conquerors.  The  deities  of  Greece 
were  incorporated  into  the  national  faith  of  Rome.  Greek 
literature  became  the  education  of  the  Roman  youth. 
Greek  philosophy  was  almost  the  only  philosophy  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  **<} 

Romans  knew.  Rome  adopted  Grecian  arts,  and  was 
moulded  by  contact  with  Greek  life.  In  name  and  gov- 
ernment the  world  was  Roman,  in  feeling  and  civilization 
it  was  Greek.  The  chief  works  of  art  at  Rome  either 
came  from  Greece  as  part  of  the  plunder  of  war,  or  were 
executed  there  by  Greek  artists  of  the  later  school.  Ele- 
gance and  culture  were  by  nature  foreign  to  the  Romans ; 
these  they  sought  from  Greece,  and  large  numbers  of 
Greek  slaves  were  brought  to  Rome.  These  Greek  slaves 
and  freedmen  acted  as  superintendents  of  factories  and 
teachers  of  the  children.  The  city  population  also  included 
large  numbers  of  Greek  musicians,  teachers  of  rhetoric, 
philosophers,  secretaries,  and  copyists  (an  important  class 
when  there  was  no  printing) ,  in  many  cases  inmates  of  the 
houses  of  the  great,  whom  they  instructed  and  amused. 
The  effect  of  Greek  culture  and  philosophy  on  the  old 
religious  belief  is  also  to  be  observed.  Religion  declined 
into  mere  expediency,  the  educated  class  protecting  pop- 
ular superstitions  which  they  despised  themselves. 

Roman  literature  came  into  existence  five  centuries 
after  the  foundation  of  the  city.  The  old  rude  Roman 
ballads  are  entirely  lost,  and  the  first  Roman  poet  was 
Livius  Andronicus  (a  native  of  Magna  Grsecia),  a  drama 
by  whom  was  performed  at  Rome  in  the  year  B.  C.  240. 
He  took  his  comedies  and  tragedies  from  the  Greek,  being 
master  of  both  tongues.  He  was  followed  by  Naevius,  a 
Campanian,  who  adapted,  from  the  Greek,  comedies  in 
which  he  attacked  the  Patricians.  An  epic  poem  of  his 
on  the  first  Punic  War  furnished  matter  to  Ennius  and 
Virgil.  Naevius  died  about  B.  C.  200.  The  founder  of 
Roman  literature  is  generally  said  to  be  Ennius,  a  native 
of  Magna  Grsecia.  He  lived  between  B.  C.  239  and 
169.  Ennius  wrote  an  epic  poem,  in  dactylic  hexameters, 
on  the  annals  of  Rome,  and  this  work  was  the  chief  epic 


228      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

poem  in  Latin  until  Virgil,  borrowing  largely  from  his 
predecessor,  surpassed  him  in  his  immortal  "^Eneid."  Of 
these  three  authors — Andronicus,  Naevius,  Ennius — 
we  have  only  the  scantiest  remains. 

The  great  comic  genius,  Plautus,  wrote  between  B.  C. 
225  and  184.  Twenty  of  his  plays  remain;  and  modern 
opinion  has  ratified  the  verdict  of  the  Romans,  with  all 
classes  of  whom  Plautus  was  a  great  favorite.  He  did 
not  merely  translate  old  Greek  comedies,  but  used  their 
plots  and  characters  for  real  Roman  work  as  to  dialogue 
and  detail.  His  plays  have  found  imitators  among 
modern  writers  of  the  highest  order,  including  the  great 
Frenchman,  Moliere.,  Terence,  or  to  give  him  his  full 
name,  Terentius  Afer — "Terence  the  African,"  was  born 
at  Carthage  in  B.  C.  193,  and  died  in  159.  We  have  six 
of  his  comedies,  adapted  from  the  Greek,  and  written  in 
Latin  of  perfect  elegance  and  purity.  The  tragic  poet, 
Pacuvius,  whose  works  are  lost,  flourished  about  B.  C. 
1 60.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an  accomplished  and  vigor- 
ous writer.  Another  tragedian,  named  Accius,  was  some- 
what later  than  Pacuvius.  Roman  tragedy,  like  Roman 
comedy,  was  largely  imitated  from  the  Greek. 

During  and  after  the  Second  Punic  War  (B.  C.  218- 
202)  the  historical  writers  Fabius  Pictor  and  Cincius  Ali- 
mentus,  occur;  they  wrote  (in  Greek)  an  account  of  that 
struggle.  The  famous  censor  Porcius  Cato  (died  B.  C. 
149)  wrote  a  historical  work  on  events  from  Rome's  foun- 
dation till  his  own  time;  it  was  called  "Origines"  (as  giv- 
ing the  origins  of  Italian  towns),  and  is  the  first  prose 
work  in  Latin  of  which  we  have  any  considerable  remains. 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

The  "burning  question"  and  chief  grievance  with  the 
mass  of  the  people  in  Italy  was  the  land  question.  The 
Licinian  Law  of  B.  C.  366,  limiting  the  amount  of  public 
land  to  be  held  by  Patricians,  and  providing  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  surplus  among  the  Plebeians,  had  not  been 
carried  out,  and  the  former  corn-lands  of  Italy  were  now 
turned  into  pasture-land  held  by  the  rich  in  vast  domains, 
while  the  old  race  of  peasant-proprietors  had  become 
almost  extinct.  The  people  had  not  only  lost  the  land, 
but  the  love  of  labor,  and  were  crowded  into  the  towns, 
where  they  lived  on  the  largesses  and  bribes  of  the  wealthy, 
and  were  degraded  constantly  and  increasingly  by  associa- 
tion and  intermarriage  with  the  slave  population  that  now 
flooded  Italy. 

Tiberius  Gracchus,  a  son  of  the  famous  Cornelia  (a 
daughter  of  Scipio  Africanus,  the  victor  at  Zama)  [see 
volume  "Famous  Women  of  the  World"],  became  a  Tri- 
bune (Tribunus  Plebis)  in  B.  C.  133,  and  at  once  took  up 
the  cause  of  his  poor  and  oppressed  fellow-citizens.  His 
object  was  to  give  a  share  of  land  (the  public  land,  which 
belonged  to  the  state,  and  therefore  to  the  people)  to  each 
free  citizen,  and  so  to  people  Italy  once  more  with  citizens 
instead  of  slaves,  and  to  restore  agriculture,  which  had 
vanished  into  pasturage.  He  therefore  proposed  a  bill  to 
enforce  the  Licinian  Law,  and  on  the  death  of  Attalus, 
King  of  Pergamus  (bequeathing  his  kingdom  and  prop- 
erty to  the  Roman  people)  Gracchus  proposed  that  this 
property  should  be  distributed  so  as  to  allow  the  new  class 
of  sm.aU  landowners  to  stock  their  little  farms.  If  these 

229 


330      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

measures  had  been  carried  out,  a  new  middle  class  would 
have  been  created,  which  would  have  done  much  to  avert 
ruin  from  the  republic.  The  jealous  and  avaricious  nobles 
rose,  and  with  their  own  hands  and  those  of  their  retainers 
murdered  Tiberius  Gracchus  in  the  Forum  during  the 
voting  for  his  second  tribunate  in  B.  C.  132.  His  brother, 
Caius  Gracchus,  was  tribune  in  B.  C.  123  and  122,  and 
carried  several  laws  in  favor  of  the  poor ;  but  he  also  was 
driven  to  death  by  the  Senatorial  party  in  121,  during  a 
furious  outbreak,  which  ended  in  the  wholesale  murder  of 
his  adherents  in  Rome.  The  treatment  of  the  Gracchi  by 
the  Patricians  was  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  that  the  old 
Roman  respect  for  law — the  basis,  the  essence,  the  very 
life  of  a  free  state — had  now  vanished  away.  The  legisla- 
tion of  the  Gracchi  was  ultimately,  and  most  of  it  immedi- 
ately, neglected  or  repealed,  and  the  last  chance  of  saving 
the  republic  was  lost. 

The  internal  history  of  Rome — almost  everything 
apart  from  foreign  conquest — becomes  now  a  history  of 
the  struggles  and  domination  of  individuals,  and  the  prin- 
ciple at  work  is  mainly  the  ascendency  of  physical  force. 
The  contests  waged  involve  an  aristocratic  and  a  popular 
side — a  party  striving  to  maintain  the  privileges  of  the 
existing  Roman  citizens  and  the  predominance  of  the  Sen- 
ate, and  a  party  determined  to  make  free  citizens  of  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Italy,  and  to  break  down  the  remaining 
power  of  the  aristocracy. 

At  this  time  the  Roman  Senate  consisted,  not  of  the 
able  and  patriotic  statesmen  of  the  past,  but  of  short- 
sighted, selfish  oligarchs,  who  cared  for  little  besides  the 
power  wielded  in  the  consulship,  the  vanity  gratified  in  a 
"Triumph,"  and  the  greed  glutted  in  a  provincial  govern- 
ment. On  his  return  from  abroad  the  Roman  proconsul 
pr  propraetor  generally  gave  himself  up  to  ease  and  luxury 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  231 

for  the  rest  of  his  days,  and  let  politics  alone  when  they 
had  given  him  all  he  cared  for.  The  Senate  had  thus 
become  quite  unfit  to  rule  at  a  time  when  firm  and  wise 
control  was  more  than  ever  needed. 

Between  B.  C.  125  and  120  the  Allobroges  and  other 
tribes  in  the  south  of  Gaul  were  subdued,  the  colony  of 
Aquae  Sextiae  (the  modern  Aix)  was  founded  there,  and 
a  Roman  province  was  made  in  B.  C.  120,  called  by  the 
Romans  "Provincia"  or  "the  Province,"  as  opposed  to  the 
rest  of  Gallia ;  hence  comes  the  modern  name  of  that  dis- 
trict— Provence.  Jugurtha,  King  of  Numidia  (north- 
west of  Africa),  was  grandson  of  Masinissa,  who  was 
a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Carthage  at  the  close  of  the  second 
Punic  War.  His  connection  with  Rome  is  remarkable 
for  the  gross  corruption  thereby  revealed  in  the  Roman 
Senate,  members  of  which  Jugurtha  bribed  to  connive  at 
his  intrigues  and  crimes  for  the  possession  of  the  throne 
of  Numidia.  The  war  between  Rome  and  Jugurtha  lasted 
from  B.  C.  112  to  106,  and  in  the  course  of  it  Jugurtha 
corrupted  by  bribes  two  Roman  commanders,  and  defeated 
another.  The  great  Roman  general,  Marius,  ended  it  by 
defeating  and  capturing  Jugurtha  (B.  C.  106),  who  was 
thrown  into  a  dungeon  and  starved  to  death  after  his  con- 
queror's triumph  in  104.  Numidia  became  a  Roman 
province  about  sixty  years  later.  The  celebrated  Marius, 
who  was  seven  times  consul,  was  born  at  Arpinum  (birth- 
place also  of  the  great  orator  Cicero)  in  Latium.  He 
appears  in  the  civil  struggles  as  champion  of  the  popular 
element  against  the  Roman  aristocracy.  He  was  one  of 
the  ablest  generals  that  Rome  produced,  but  claims  no 
higher  place  in  politics  than  that  of  a  bold,  rude,  unscrup- 
ulous, and  arrogant  soldier  immersed  in  civil  strife.  The 
Cimbri  were  a  Celtic  people  in  the  northwest  of  Germany ; 
the  Teutones  (or  Teutons)  were  a  German  (Teutonic) 


232      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

tribe  on  the  Baltic  coast.  These  tribes,  to  the  number  of 
300,000  fighting  men,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
moved  southward  through  Gaul,  and,  as  they  neared  Italy, 
defeated  several  Roman  armies  with  great  slaughter 
between  B.  C.  113  and  105.  After  an  unsuccessful  attack 
on  Spain  they  returned  to  the  Provincia  (south  of  Gaul), 
and  there  Marius  saved  the  Roman  Empire  from  being 
prematurely  overwhelmed  by  northern  barbarians.  In  B. 
C.  1 02  he  annihilated  the  Teutones  in  a  great  battle  near 
Aquae  Sexiiae  (Aix),  on  a  spot  where  the  modern  village 
of  Pourrieres  still  preserves  the  name  of  Campi  Putridi 
("putrefied  fields"),  given  to  the  battle-ground  from  the 
number  of  decaying  bodies.  In  B.  C.  101  Marius  de- 
stroyed the  Cimbri  at  the  battle  of  Vercellae  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul. 

The  Social  or  Marsic  War  was  one  of  the  great  con- 
tests of  Rome  in  the  field  of  battle.  The  Italian  tribes — 
the  chief  who  took  part  in  the  war  being  the  Marsi,  Picen- 
tes,  Peligni,  Samnites,  Apuli,  and  Lucani — were  now 
claiming  the  full  Roman  citizenship,  just  as  the  Plebeians 
had  done  in  the  old  struggles  with  the  Patricians.  Rome 
had  given  up  her  old  wise  policy  of  making  new  citizens 
out  of  subjects,  and  she  was  now  to  suffer  for  it  in  a 
tremendous  and  dangerous  conflict  with  the  brave  and 
indignant  Italians.  The  Latin  colonies  were  faithful  to 
Rome,  and  this  alone  saved  her  from  ruin.  The  war  con- 
tinued during  two  years,  B.  C.  90-89,  and  was  of  the 
most  sanguinary  and  desperate  character.  In  B.  C.  89 
Asculum  in  Picenum  was  taken  by  the  Romans  and  de- 
stroyed. The  Romans  had  already  detached  some  of 
their  enemies  by  passing  the  Lex  Julia,  giving  the  Roman 
franchise  to  the  Latin  colonies,  and  to  such  of  the  Italian 
allies  as  gave  up  the  contest;  and  after  further  Roman 
the  matter  enolecj!  in  Rome's  granting  all  $$ 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  233 

demands  of  the  Italian  confederates,  when  300,000  brave 
men  had  fallen  on  both  sides.  The  Lex  Julia  was 
extended  to  the  citizens  of  all  towns  in  alliance  with  Rome 
throughout  Italy,  that  is  to  the  Socii,  and  on  compliance 
with  certain  formalities  the  Roman  franchise  was  thus 
carried  to  the  borders  of  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  on  the  Euxine  Sea  (a 
realm  originally  formed  by  a  satrap's  revolt  from  the  old 
Persian  empire),  was  a  man  of  boundless  energy  and 
great  ability,  who  in  B.  C.  88  attacked  the  neighboring 
countries  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  and  became  master  of  the 
Roman  province  of  Asia,  where  he  carried  out  a  general 
massacre  of  the  Roman  residents  to  the  number  of  scores 
of  thousands.  In  the  first  Mithridatic  War  (B.  C.  88-84) 
Sulla,  an  able  general,  and  leader  of  the  Senatorial  party 
at  Rome,  defeated  the  troops  of  Mithridates  in  Greece, 
and  brought  him  to  terms — Mithridates  giving  up  his  con- 
quests and  paying  a  large  indemnity.  The  second  Mith- 
ridatic War  lasted  from  B.  C.  74  to  63,  and  arose  out  of  a 
claim  to  the  possession  of  Bithynia,  bequeathed  by  its  late 
King,  Nicomedes,  to  the  Romans.  The  chief  generals  on 
the  side  of  Rome  were  Lucullus  and  the  famous  Pompeius 
Magnus  (Pompey  the  Great,  the  future  antagonist  of 
Julius  Caesar),  Mithridates  being  assisted  by  his  son-in- 
law,  Tigranes,  King  of  Armenia.  The  power  of  Rome 
prevailed  of  course  in  the  end,  and  Mithridates,  driven 
from  his  throne  by  her  arms  and  by  domestic  rebellion, 
died  in  B.  C.  63  in  what  is  now  the  Crimea. 

Meanwhile  Rome  had  been  plunged  into  a  civil  war. 
This  sanguinary  contest  lasted  from  B.  C.  88  to  82,  and 
presents  a  dreary  scene  of  massacre  and  plunder.  It 
began  in  a  rivalry  as  to  the  command  in  the  first  Mithri- 
datic War,  and  Sulla,  having  ready  an  army  to  which 
$i§  Senate  had  appointed  him.,  marqhed  on  Rome  and 


234      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

drove  Marius  into  exile,  B.  C.  88.  It  was  then  that 
Marius  was  seen  "sitting  on  the  ruins  of  Carthage," 
according  to  the  well-known  story.  In  B.  C.  87  Cinna, 
a  supporter  of  Marius  (after  Sulla  had  gone  to  Greece 
against  Mithridates),  roused  the  party  and  recalled 
Marius.  Rome  was  forced  to  yield,  and  a  fearful  mas- 
sacre took  place  of  the  Senatorial  and  other  enemies  of 
Marius,  who  died  in  B.  C.  86.  In  B.  C.  82  Sulla  returned 
to  Italy,  and  defeated  the  partisans  of  Marius  (who  were 
supported  by  a  Samnite  army)  in  a  terrific  battle  outside 
the  Colline  Gate  of  Rome  (B.  C.  82).  A  general  slaugh- 
ter of  the  opposite  faction  throughout  Italy  now  followed, 
proscriptions  or  lists  of  the  doomed  being  regularly  pub- 
lished. In  B.  C.  82  Sulla  was  made  "dictator"  by  the 
Senate,  and  his  soldiers,  and  the  supporters  of  the  Sena- 
torial party  were  rewarded  by  the  plunder  derived  from 
the  confiscated  wealth  of  nearly  three  thousand  slain 
Equites  (the  rich  tax- farming  class),  and  of  such  Senators 
as  were  of  the  Marian  faction.  Sulla  now  effected  an 
aristocratic  revolution,  undoing  the  popular  legislation  of 
past  times,  reducing  the  power  of  the  Tribuni  Plebis,  and 
abolishing  the  powers  of  the  Comitia  Tributa,  He  also 
established  many  military  colonies  throughout  Italy,  divid- 
ing the  lands  amongst  his  old  soldiers.  In  B.  C.  79  Sulla 
suddenly  resigned  his  power,  and  died  in  B.  C.  78.  The 
changes  he  made  in  the  constitution  were  of  little  moment 
really,  as  the  free  state  was  virtually  dead,  and  greater 
men  than  Marius  and  Sulla  were  coming  to  the  front  to 
contest  the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  world. 

Cneius  Pompeius  was  one  of  the  ablest  generals  pro- 
duced by  ancient  Rome.  He  was  born  in  B.  C.  106,  and 
fought  with  great  distinction  on  Sulla's  side  in  the  civil 
war  with  Marius.  He  succeeded  Sulla  as  head  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  235 

aristocratic  (Senatorial)  party.  After  some  successes 
against  Roman  revolt  in  Spain  (B.  C.  76-71)  Pompey 
became  consul  in  B.  C.  70,  and  now  figured  as  the  popular 
hero,  undoing  some  of  Sulla's  legislation.  In  B.  C.  67 
the  famous  Gabinian  Law  (giving  special  powers  for  the 
object  in  view,  and  carried  by  the  tribune  Gabinius),  gave 
Pompey  a  grand  opportunity,  which  he  used  with  con- 
summate ability.  The  Mediterranean  Sea  was  at  this  time 
infested  by  pirates  so  numerous  and  bold  that  they  plun- 
dered cities  on  the  Greek  and  Asiatic  coasts,  threatened 
Rome  with  starvation  by  cutting  off  the  corn-ships  coming 
from  Africa  and  Egypt,  and  seized  persons  for  ransom 
not  far  from  Rome  itself.  In  three  months,  by  skillful 
arrangements,  wise  choice  of  subordinates,  and  determined 
action,  Pompey  swept  the  great  central  sea  clear  of  these 
rebels  and  marauders  from  end  to  end,  and,  pursuing  the 
chief  body  to  their  nests  and  strongholds  on  the  coast  of 
Cilicia,  drove  them  to  death  or  to  surrender. 

This  exploit  was  followed  by  his  successes  in  Asia 
against  Mithridates  and  Tigranes.  Pontus  was  thus 
made  a  Roman  province  in  B.  C.  65.  In  B.  C.  64 
Pompey  made  Syria  a  province  by  deposing  the  King 
Antiochus.  In  63  he  subdued  Phoenicia  and  Palestine, 
capturing  Jerusalem  and  returning  (with  a  splendid  tri- 
umph) to  Rome  in  B.  C.  61.  Three  other  prominent  men, 
one  supremely  great,  had  now  arisen  in  Rome :  these  were 
Cicero,  Crassus,  and  Julius  Caesar. 

Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  (often  called  "Tully"  in  old 
English  authors)  is  one  of  those  men  of  olden  time  whose 
moral  portraits  are  most  familiar  to  the  moderns.  We 
know  him  not  only  from  contemporary  history,  but  from 
his  numerous  letters  to  friends,  which,  besides  supplying 
a  large  part  of  that  history,  depict  the  man  himself  in  vivicl 


236      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

colors.  Cicero  was  born  at  Arpinum,  in  Latium,  in  B.  C. 
107,  and  after  a  studious  youth  and  early  manhood  spent 
on  law,  philosophy,  and  rhetoric,  became  a  distinguished 
orator  about  B.  C.  76.  He  addressed  assemblies  on  pub- 
lic questions  in  the  forum  at  Rome,  and  also  practiced  as 
an  advocate  in  the  law-courts.  After  passing  through 
the  regular  gradation  of  state-offices  as  quaestor,  curule 
aedile,  and  praetor,  he  became  consul  in  B.  C.  63.  His 
exploit  in  this  capacity  (which  Cicero  himself  never  for- 
got, nor  allowed  the  world  to  forget)  was  the  crushing 
of  Catiline's  conspiracy,  for  which  the  great  orator  re- 
ceived from  the  Senate  the  title  of  "Pater  Patrise"  (father 
of  the  fatherland).  Cicero's  political  position  was  that 
of  a  general  supporter  of  the  aristocratic  or  Senatorial 
party.  As  an  orator  Cicero  was  supremely  great;  as  an 
accomplished  man  of  letters  he  was  a  master  of  style,  and 
had  a  great  variety  of  attainments ;  as  a  statesman  he  was 
patriotic,  shrewd,  weak,  and  vacillating ;  as  a  man  he  was 
vain,  honest,  and  amiable. 

Marcus  Crassus  was  a  man  of  great  political  influence 
in  Rome,  because  he  was  by  far  the  richest  man  there — 
the  possessor  of  mines,  estates,  mansions  let  at  high  rents, 
and  hosts  of  slaves,  who  were  taught  to  work  at  handi- 
crafts which  brought  in  large  gains  to  their  owner.  In 
B.  C.  70  Crassus  became  consul,  and  feasted  all  Rome  at 
ten  thousand  tables,  besides  giving  out  corn  enough  to 
keep  every  citizen  and  his  household  for  three  months. 
His  wealth  and  his  zealous  courting  of  the  citizens  by 
studied  affability,  and  by  service  rendered  in  the  law-courts 
to  those  who  needed  an  advocate,  gave  him  much  pop- 
ularity :  he  had  half  the  Senate  in  his  debt,  and  he  could 
afford  to  bribe  all  judges  whom  eloquence  could  not  reach. 
He  was  no  statesman,  and  could  only  have  acquired  such 
weight  as  he  cU4  in  so  corrupt  a  condition  of  things  as  he 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  237 

fox.  <d  existing  in  Rome.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  aristocratic  party. 

Caius  Julius  Caesar*  is  universally  admitted  to  be  the 
foremost  man  in  all  the  world's  history  for  varied  and,  in 
almost  ali  departments,  consummate  ability.  Naturally 
good-hearted,  keenly  intelligent,  brave  as  a  lion,  charm- 
ingly and  weightily  eloquent,  endued  with  a  marvelous 
memory  for  things  and  persons,  boundless  in  generosity, 
cool  in  anger,  gracious  in  manner,  the  favorite  of  the  peo- 
ple, the  best-beloved  courtier  of  Roman  ladies,  one  of  the 
purest  and  most  forcible  of  writers,  highly  accomplished 
in  all  the  arts  of  a  man  of  fashion  and  of  a  statesman  and 
a  man  of  action — he  presents  a  dazzling  picture  in  the 
union  of  many  qualities  and  attainments,  some  one  or  two 
of  which  suffice  to  make  a  man  distinguished  among  ordi- 
nary men.  In  person  he  is  described  in  Froude's  "Caesar" 
as  "tall,  slight,  handsome;  with  dark,  piercing  eyes,  sallow 
complexion,  large  nose,  lips  full,  features  refined  and  intel- 
lectual, neck  sinewy  and  thick  ...  his  dress  of  studied 
negligence."  He  was  a  noble  of  the  highest  position,  as 
born  in  one  of  the  best  of  the  old  Roman  families,  but  he 
became  in  a  sense  the  popular  champion  as  leader  of  the 
Marian  party  a  good  many  years  (about  fifteen)  after  the 
death  of  Marius;  and,  filled  with  the  determination  of 
making  himself  ultimately  master  of  the  Roman  world, 
he  used  all  men  and  every  means  with  the  greatest  skill  to 
bring  about  the  preordained  result.  Caesar  was  a  man 
who  could  thoroughly  "appreciate  the  wants  of  the 
moment  and  the  problems  of  the  future;"  he  was  also  one 
who  could  make  instruments  for  his  work  out  of  the  ideas, 
the  circumstances,  and  the  politicians  of  his  day,  and  so 
he  commanded  and  achieved,  in  the  end,  complete  and 
brilliant  success.  He  was  one  of  those  world-historical 

*  See  volume  "  World's  Famous  Warriors." 


238     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

men  who  possess  at  once  an  insight  into  the  requirements 
of  the  time,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  what  is  ripe  for  devel- 
opment, and  the  heroic  qualities  of  courage,  patience  and 
endurance  needed  by  him  who  is  to  create  a  new  world 
out  of  the  disordered  elements  of  existing  decay,  and  to 
raise  the  imposing  fabric  of  imperialism  on  the  ruins  of 
a  republic.  Julius  Caesar  was  born  in  B.  C.  100,  and 
gained  early  distinction  as  a  soldier  and  an  orator.  After 
being  Quaestor,  ^Edile,  and  Praetor,  he  warred  successfully 
in  Spain  (as  Propraetor)  in  B.  C.  61,  returning  to  Rome 
in  the  following  year.  This  brings  us  to  the  remarkable 
coalition  known  as  the  "First  Triumvirate." 

In  B.  C.  60  the  three  chief  men  of  Rome — Caesar  the 
statesman,  Pompey  the  general,  and  Crassus  the  capitalist 
— made  an  arrangement  for  the  division  amongst  them- 
selves of  all  the  real  power  in  the  state.  The  command  of 
money  gave  them  the  possession  at  will  of  armies  of  those 
soldiers  who  had  now  become  mercenaries  instead  of 
Roman  citizens,  owing  obedience  to  the  constitution ;  and 
in  Pompey  and  Caesar  was  found  abundant  skill  to  direct 
the  military  force  which  would  at  any  moment  put  the 
Senate  and  its  supporters  at  their  mercy.  Cicero  held 
aloof  when  Caesar  wished  him  to  join  the  league,  and  vain- 
ly hoped  to  be  able  yet  to  preserve  the  commonwealth.  It 
was  clear  that  a  struggle  for  supreme  power  in  the  hands 
of  one  must  sooner  or  later  arise.  In  B.  C.  59  Caesar  was 
consul,  and  carried  a  land  bill,  dividing  the  rich  soil  of 
Campania  in  allotments  amongst  the  poorer  citizens.  On 
the  close  of  his  year  of  office  he  was  appointed  Proconsul 
of  the  provinces  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  Illyricum,  and  Trans- 
alpine Gaul  for  the  term  of  five  years,  with  the  command 
of  four  legions,  about  25,000  men.  It  is  surmised  that 
Caesar  sought  this  important  and  difficult  provincial  gov- 
ernment with  the  express  object  of  gaining  military  fame, 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  239 

and  of  forging  (in  the  training  of  an  army  devoted  to  his 
service)  the  weapon  which  would  be  needed  in  the  contest 
that  was  sure  to  come.  During  Caesar's  campaigns  in 
Gaul,  where  his  government  was  prolonged  for  a  second 
five-year  term,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Triumvirate  dis- 
appeared from  the  scene.  Crassus,  after  holding  the  con- 
sulship with  Pompey  in  B.  C.  55,  went  out  as  Proconsul 
to  the  province  of  Syria  in  54.  His  greed  of  wealth  and 
desire  for  the  military  fame  which  he  envied  in  Caesar  and 
Pompey,  brought  him  to  ruin  when  he  was  induced  to 
attack  the  Kingdom  of  Parthia. 

Parthia  enjoys  in  history  the  rare  distinction  of  being 
a  country  the  prowess  of  whose  warriors  baffled  the  efforts 
of  Rome  for  her  subjection.  The  Parthian  Kingdom  lay 
to  the  southeast  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  came  into  exist- 
ence about  B.  C.  250  by  revolt  from  the  Seleucidas,  the 
monarchs  of  Syria,  which  became  a  powerful  realm  after 
the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great.  The  Kingdom  of 
Parthia  included  Parthia  proper,  Hyrcania,  and  after- 
ward, by  conquest  about  B.  C.  130,  Bactria,  so  that  at  last 
her  dominions  stretched  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Indus, 
and  from  the  river  Oxus  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Parthia  proper  (the  Parthi)  were  a  people  of 
Scythian  origin,  and  were  noted  in  war  for  the  skill  and 
bravery  of  their  armor-clad  horse-archers,  who  enveloped 
an  enemy  on  all  sides,  and  poured  in  their  missiles,  and 
then  swiftly  retired,  firing  backwards  with  great  and  prov- 
erbial effect.  The  ruling  dynasty  was  called  the  Arsacidse, 
from  the  name  of  Arsaces,  the  founder.  The  formidable 
repute  of  the  Parthian  warriors  was  increased  by  the  war 
with  Syria  in  B.  C.  131,  when  they  annihilated  the  Syrian 
army  sent  against  them.  The  policy  of  the  Parthian  rulers 
was  very  exclusive;  strangers  were  not  admitted  to  their 
dominions,  and  commerce  was  sacrificed  to  their  watchful 


240     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

jealousy.  Their  establishment  in  the  old  Persian  Empire 
caused  a  great  change  in  the  lines  of  commerce  between 
the  Eastern  and  Western  world.  The  East  India  trade, 
stopped  in  its  passage  through  Babylonia,  began  to  shape 
its  course  through  Northern  Arabia  and  the  Red  Sea.  To 
this  change  the  wealth  and  splendor  obtained  by  the  great 
commercial  cities  Palmyra  and  Alexandria  must  be  chiefly 
attributed.  The  Parthians  adopted  the  Greek  religion, 
manners  and  customs,  which  had  been  introduced  into 
that  part  of  Asia  by  Alexander's  conquests. 

It  was  the  downfall  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Mithridates 
and  Tigranes  in  Asia  Minor  that  brought  Parthia  into  con- 
flict with  the  Roman  Empire.  The  conquest  of  Armenia 
brought  Rome's  frontier  close  to  Parthia,  and  the  ambi- 
tion of  Crassus  did  the  rest.  Crassus  crossed  the  Euphra- 
tes in  B.  C.  53,  and  was  attacked  by  the  Parthians  in  the 
plains  of  Mesopotamia.  The  Roman  infantry  could  do 
nothing  against  the  peculiar  tactics  of  the  foe,  and  Crassus 
retreated,  after  great  slaughter  of  his  troops,  to  a  place 
called  Charrae.  Then,  in  a  helpless  situation,  he  held  par- 
ley with  the  Parthian  general,  Surenas,  and  was  murdered 
at  the  interview.  The  head  of  Crassus  was  cut  off  and 
sent  to  the  Parthian  King,  Orodes,  who  caused  melted 
gold  to  be  poured  into  the  mouth,  in  mockery  of  its  late 
owner's  love  for  the  precious  metal.  The  Roman  stand- 
ards (the  famous  "eagles,"  worshiped  as  gods  by  the 
Roman  troops)  had  been  taken  by  the  Parthians,  and  the 
remnant  of  the  Roman  army  became  prisoners  of  war,  and 
settled  in  the  East.  A  more  complete  disaster,  a  more 
burning  disgrace,  never  befell  the  arms  of  Rome. 

The  subsequent  history  of  Parthia  may  be  interesting. 
The  renowned  cavalry  seem  to  have  been  all-powerful  only 
on  their  own  soil,  for  their  invasions  of  the  Roman  prov- 
ince of  Syria  in  B.  C.  39  and  38  were  utterly  defeated, 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  24* 

while  the  invasion  of  Parthia  by  the  great  Roman  general 
and  Triumvir,  Antonius,  in  36,  was  repulsed  with  the  loss 
of  a  great  part  of  his  army.  In  B.  C.  20  the  Parthian 
King,  Phraates,  restored,  chiefly  as  a  friendly  concession, 
the  standards  and  prisoners  taken  from  Crassus  and  Anto- 
nius, and  this  is  the  event  commemorated  by  the  Roman 
poets  of  the  day  as  equivalent  to  a  submission  by  Parthia. 
Under  the  Roman  Emperors  the  Parthians  sometimes 
courted  and  were  sometimes  at  war  with  Rome,  and  were 
partially  conquered  for  a  time  under  Trajan.  The  Par- 
thian Kings  seem  to  have  encouraged  Christianity.  In 
A.  D.  226  a  revolt  of  the  Persians  put  an  end  to  the  Par- 
thian Kingdom,  revived  the  religion  of  Zoroaster,  stopped 
the  eastward  progress  of  Christianity  in  Asia,  and  began 
modern  history  in  Persia. 

Caesar's  eight  campaigns  in  Gaul  (B.  C.  58-50)  are 
described,  mainly  by  himself,  in  his  admirable  Commen- 
taries. Gaul  was  bounded  by  the  Rhine,  the  Alps,  the 
Pyrenees,  the  Atlantic,  and  the  sea  now  called  "the  chan- 
nel." The  southern  part  (Provence)  had  been  conquered 
by  the  Romans  (B.  C.  125),  and  the  Roman  territory  was 
gradually  extended  as  far  north  as  Geneva,  and  as  far 
west  as  Tolosa  (Toulouse) .  The  Belgae,  a  race  of  German 
origin,  held  the  north;  the  southwest  of  the  country  was 
occupied  by  Iberians,  a  non-Aryan  race,  the  center  being 
mainly  occupied  by  Celts,  the  same  race  as  the  Irish,  who 
strongly  resemble  the  old  Gauls  in  character — humorous, 
poetical,  pious,  credulous,  shrewd,  patriotic,  clannish, 
brave,  undisciplined,  indolent,  amiable,  clever  and  imprac-~ 
ticable.  The  greatest  hero  of  the  war  on  the  side  of  the 
Gauls  was  the  noble,  knightly  Vercingetorix,  who  (in  B. 
C.  52)  most  bravely  resisted  Caesar  at  Alesia  (close  to  the 
source  of  the  Seine)  and  was  put  to  death,  with  true 

Roman  barbarity,  after  his  conqueror's  triumph  at  Rome, 
Voi,.  i  — 16 


H2      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

in  B.  C.  45.  The  chief  incidents  of  Caesar's  great  contest 
in  Gaul  are  his  dispersion  of  the  emigrant  hosts  of  the 
Helvetii  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Germans,  who  had 
invaded  Gaul  under  Ariovistus  in  B.  C.  58;  his  conquest 
of  the  Belgae  and  the  Aquitani  in  57  and  56 ;  his  invasions 
of  Britain  in  55  and  54,  and  his  subduing  of  Gallic  revolts, 
including  the  great  rising  of  Vercingetorix,  between  B.  C. 
53  and  51,  when  Gallia  Transalpina  was  finally  and  wholly 
subdued,  and  the  Roman  dominion  was  extended  to  the 
Rhine  and  the  Channel. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  conquered  Gauls  Caesar  showed, 
on  several  occasions,  the  inhuman  cruelty  and  the  perfidy 
which  marked  the  dealings  of  Romans  with  their  foes.  In 
the  means  which  Caesar  employed  to  subdue  the  Gauls 
he  displayed  powers  of  mind  which  rank  him  among  the 
greatest  generals  of  all  history.  With  little  previous 
experience  of  war,  he  now  adapted  means  to  ends  with 
the  utmost  skill,  showed  wonderful  foresight  and  swift- 
ness of  movement,  and  trained  for  its  future  work  an  army 
of  such  excellence  as  has  rarely  indeed  followed  a  general 
into  the  field — an  army  like  unto  that  with  which  Welling- 
ton crossed  the  Pyrenees  triumphant  into  France;  a  force 
of  which  he  said  himself,  though  he  was  no  boaster,  that 
"it  could  go  anywhere  and  do  anything."  The  importance 
of  the  conquest  of  Gaul  in  the  history  of  the  world  is  that 
it  brought  the  old  world  of  Southern  Europe,  of  which 
Rome  was  the  head,  into  contact  with  the  lands  and  nations 
which  were  to  play  the  greatest  part  in  later  times,  with 
Gaul,  Germany,  and  Britain.  The  importance  of  the  con- 
quest of  Gaul  in  the  career  of  Julius  Caesar  is  that  it  gave 
him,  in  his  splendid  and  victorious  army,  the  lever  with 
which  he  revolutionized  the  Roman  commonwealth;  for 
these  legions  afterward  conquered  Pompey  and  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  243 

Senate,  and  the  Gallic  campaigns  made  Caesar  the  idol 
of  the  soldiery  of  Rome. 

Caesar's  brilliant  and  solid  successes  in  Gaul  had 
aroused  a  strong  jealousy  in  Pompey,  and  an  indignant 
fear  in  the  Senate,  who  now  brought  Pompey  over  to  their 
views,  and  made  him  again  their  champion.  The  greatest 
enmity  soon  existed  between  the  rivals,  and  only  an  occa- 
sion for  outbreak  into  civil  war  was  needed.  This  occa- 
sion arose  when  Caesar  was  ordered  by  the  Senate,  at 
Pompey's  instance,  to  lay  down  his  proconsular  command, 
B.  C.  50  (Caesar  being  then,  after  the  pacification  of  Gaul, 
in  Gallia  Cisalpina,  south  of  the  Alps),  and  to  return  as 
a  private  citizen  to  Rome.  This  was  in  reply  to  Caesar's 
request  to  be  allowed  to  stand  for  the  consulship  (of  B.  C. 
48)  without  coming  to  Rome,  as  his  (second)  term  of 
command  over  Gaul  had  still  a  year  to  run.  The  object  of 
the  Senate  and  of  Pompey  was  simply  this — to  get  Caesar 
into  their  hands;  in  which  case  he  would  have  probably 
died  after  a  mock  trial.  Julius  Caesar  was  scarcely  the 
man  to  be  caught  in  this  way,  and  he  replied  in  a  decisive 
way  to  the  Senate's  order,  either  to  disband  his  army  or 
to  be  accounted  a  public  foe.  A  little  river  called  the 
Rubicon  flowed  into  the  Adriatic  Sea,  at  the  frontier-line 
between  Italy  and  Cisalpine  Gaul.  To  pass  that  stream 
with  an  armed  force,  from  his  province  into  Italy,  would 
be  an  act  of  open  defiance  to  the  Senate,  and  (in  constitu- 
tional law,  if  there  had  been  any  constitution  left  to  vio- 
late) an  act  of  treason  to  the  state,  and  a  declaration  of  civil 
war.  In  the  early  days  of  B.  C.  49  Caesar  settled  the  mat- 
ter, with  the  resolution  that  belonged  to  him,  by  crossing 
the  Rubicon  at  the  head  of  his  devoted  and  well-disciplined 
troops. 

Caesar  swept  onward  with  a  vigor  that  at  once  drove 


244      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Pompey  and  the  Senate  over  the  narrow  sea  to  Greece, 
and  made  the  invader  master  of  all  Italy  within  sixty 
days.  On  entering  Rome,  Caesar  was  appointed  consul 
for  B.  C.  48,  and  turned  his  first  attention,  in  the  summer 
of  49,  to  Spain,  where  he  defeated  the  Pompeiian  armies 
under  Af ranius  and  Petreius,  making  the  west  safe  before 
going  eastward  to  encounter  Pompey.  Caesar  crossed  over 
into  Greece  early  in  48,  and  found  Pompey  established 
there  with  a  powerful  army.  At  Dyrrhachium,  in  Illyria, 
Pompey  defeated  Caesar,  who  had  attacked  his  fortified 
position,  and  then  followed  him  into  Thessaly. 

There,  on  the  plains  of  Pharsalia,  a  decisive  battle, 
fought  in  August,  B.  C.  48,  ended  in  the  total  defeat  of 
Pompey.  He  fled  to  Egypt,  and  was  murdered  there 
before  Caesar  could  arrive  to  save  him,  by  order  of  the 
ministers  of  the  King  of  Egypt.  Caesar  shed  tears  of 
genuine  sorrow  at  the  sight  of  his  slain  rival's  head,  and 
promptly  executed  the  assassins.  It  is  important  to 
observe  that  there  is  in  existence  documentary  evidence 
which  amply  proves  that,  if  the  senatorial  party  had  been 
successful,  a  fearful  and  widespread  "proscription"  (as 
under  Sulla)  would  have  taken  place,  and  the  Roman 
Empire  would  have  become  the  prey  of  a  few  abandoned 
nobles.  From  such  horrors  the  victory  of  Caesar  saved 
the  Roman  world. 

On  his  arrival  in  Egypt,  Caesar  became  involved  in  a 
quarrel  which  the  famous  Cleopatra*  induced  him  to  take 
up  on  her  behalf.  She  was  co-sovereign  of  Egypt  along 
with  her  brother,  Ptolemy,  and,  having  bee.n  expelled  by 
his  party,  was  seeking  to  force  her  way  back  with  an  army 
raised  in  Syria.  Caesar  had  only  a  small  force  with  him, 
and  the  contest  (called  the  "Alexandrine  War,"  from  the 
city  where  the  fighting  occurred)  waged  by  him  with  the 

*  See  volume  "  Famous  Women  of  the  World." 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  245 

King's  troops  was  of  a  desperate  character.  Gesar  was 
besieged  in  Alexandria,  and  had  to  fight  for  his  life;  the 
Egyptian  fleet  was  burnt,  and  along  with  it  a  large  part 
of  the  famous  library,  with  its  invaluable  manuscripts.  In 
March,  B.  C.  47,  the  struggle  ended  in  Caesar's  favor,  and 
he  made  his  way  back  to  Rome  through  Syria  and  Asia 
Minor,  arriving  at  the  capital  in  September. 

During  Caesar's  absence  in  the  East,  the  Pompeian 
party  had  rallied  in  Africa,  and  in  September,  B.  C.  47, 
he  sailed  to  encounter  his  enemies  there.  Cato  the  younger 
(surnamed  Uticensis  or  "of  Utica,"  from  the  place  of  his 
death),  a  descendant  of  the  famous  Cato  the  Censor,  had 
gathered  a  large  army  of  Italians  and  Numidians,  which 
Caesar  routed,  in  April,  B.  C.  46,  at  the  battle  of  Thapsus, 
a  town  on  the  coast,  westward  from  Malta.  At  Utica, 
northwest  from  the  site  of  Carthage,  Cato  killed  himself 
in  stoical  despair  of  the  republic,  and  the  capture  of  Utica 
ended  the  war  in  Africa. 

Caesar  returned  to  Rome  in  July,  46,  and  had  four 
splendid  triumphs  for  his  victories  in  Gaul,  Egypt,  Pontus 
(where  he  had  defeated  Pharnaces,  son  of  Mithridates, 
on  his  way  back  from  Egypt),  and  Africa.  His  position 
was  secure,  and  one  of  the  brightest  features  of  his  char- 
acter, his  clemency  toward  beaten  fellow  citizens,  was  dis- 
played in  the  use  he  made  of  his  victory.  There  was  no 
vengeance,  no  "proscription,"  no  difference  made  between 
victors  and  vanquished.  The  Roman  Republic  was  at  an 
end,  and  the  Roman  monarchy  had  virtually  begun. 

Pompey's  two  sons,  Cneius  and  Sextus,  had  gathered 
a  powerful  army  in  Spain,  and  Caesar  proceeded  thither 
late  in  B.  C.  46.  In  March,  45,  at  Munda,  the  Pompeian 
army  was  defeated,  after  one  of  Caesar's  hardest-fought 
engagements. 

The  new  constitution  established  by  Caesar  had  this 


246      ANCIENT  AND  MEDi/EVAL  HISTORY 

essential  principle — that  the  sovereign  authority  over  the 
provinces  and  the  direction  of  public  policy  resided  ulti- 
mately in  one  man.  The  Senate  survived  as  a  council  of 
state;  the  magistrates  administered  their  old  functions; 
the  Imperator  (meaning  commander-in-chief,  from 
which  the  word  "Emperor"  is  derived)  was  the  real  execu- 
tive, and  the  legions  were  the  instruments  of  rule.  The 
republic,  under  which  crime  had  been  licensed,  justice 
publicly  sold,  and  the  provinces  used  as  a  gold-mine  for 
profligate  nobles,  had  become  impossible,  and  monarchy, 
under  republican  forms  and  names,  was  the  substitute 
made  for  it.  When  Caesar  returned  to  Rome  from  Spain 
in  September,  B.  C.  45,  he  was  appointed  Dictator  and 
Imperator  for  life,  his  effigy  was  to  be  struck  on  coins; 
the  month  formerly  called  Quintilis,  was  named  Julius 
(our  July)  in  his  honor,  and  the  senate  took  an  oath  of 
allegiance  and  devotion  to  his  person. 

As  master  of  the  Roman  dominions,  Caesar  did  enough 
to  prove  that  he  was  as  capable  of  ruling  as  of  winning 
an  Empire;  of  benefiting  as  of  conquering  mankind.  In 
B.  C.  46  he  had  effected  the  important  work  of  reforming 
the  calendar,  which,  from  inaccurate  reckoning,  had  fallen 
into  confusion,  so  that  the  real  time  was  three  months 
behind  the  nominal.  A  Greek  astronomer  was  called  in  to 
rectify  matters,  and  the  Julian  calendar  remained  in  use 
till  A.  D.  1582.  He  formed  great  plans  for  the  public 
good.  If  Caesar  had  been  allowed  to  live,  the  still  malari- 
ous Pomptine  (or  Pontine)  Marshes,  on  the  coast  of 
Latium,  would  have  been  drained  and  turned  into  health- 
ful, profitable  land;  and  the  river  Tiber,  still  mischievous 
from  inundations,  would  have  flowed  in  a  deeper  and  safer 
channel.  Among  his  beneficent  designs  were  the  codifi- 
cation of  the  Roman  law,  the  establishment  of  public  libra- 
ries, the  cutting  of  a  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth, 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  247 

and  the  development  of  trade  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
harbor  at  Ostia.  A  genius  so  universal,  backed  by  a  spirit 
so  enlightened,  might  at  once  have  restored  the  decayed 
agriculture  of  Italy,  and  extended  and  secured  the 
boundaries  of  the  Empire  on  the  Danube  and  in  the  East 
— for  these  things,  with  divers  other  schemes,  had  entered 
into  his  all-embracing  mind.  All  was  cut  short  and  ren- 
dered vain  by  the  lowest  baseness  of  human  envy,  and  the 
worst  foolishness  of  human  folly.  Caesar  had  been  fully 
accepted  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Romans  as  their  one 
possible,  their  one  peaceful  ruler,  when  his  career  was 
brought  to  the  sudden  and  tragical  end  known  to  all  the 
world. 

There  is  no  need  to  dwell  on  the  crime  of  the  probably 
sincere  and  fanatical  Brutus,  and  the  assuredly  malignant 
and  ungrateful  Cassius,  who  were  the  prime  movers  in 
the  plot  that  slew  Julius  Csesar.  On  the  Ides  (i5th)  of 
March,  B.  C.  44,  in  the  Senate-house  at  Rome,  called 
"Curia  Pompeii,"  the  greatest  man  in  history  died  by  the 
daggers  of  assassins.*  He  fell,  bleeding  from  many 
wounds,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  Pompey,  whom  he  had 
pursued  with  intent  only  to  spare,  whose  fate  he  had  be- 
wailed, whose  friends  he  had  first  conquered  and  then  for- 
given, only  to  be  murdered  by  their  hands  at  last.  Julius 
Caesar  was  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age  when  he  died, 
and  left  his  work  unfinished,  and  his  power  as  a  prize  for 
the  victor  in  another  inevitable  civil  war. 

Marcus  Antonius  the  Triumvir  (known  in  old  Eng- 
lish authors  as  "Mark  Antony,"  and  generally  as  "An- 
tony") was  born  about  B.  C.  83,  and  gained  early  distinc- 
tion as  a  General,  serving  under  Caesar  in  Gaul,  com- 
manding the  left  wing  of  the  victorious  army  at  Phar- 
salia,  and  acting  usually  as  Caesar's  representative  in 

*  See  volume  "  World's  Famous  Warriors." 


248      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

his  absence,  and  his  chief  supporter  in  Rome.  At  the 
time  of  the  assassination  he  was  Consul  along  with  Caesar, 
and  his  eloquence  roused  the  people,  and  drove  Brutus, 
Cassius,  and  their  faction  among  the  Senators  to  seek 
safety  in  flight  from  Rome.  Antony's  object  was  to  suc- 
ceed to  Caesar's  power,  but  there  was  a  rival  in  the  way. 
This  was  Caesar's  great-nephew  and  adopted  son,  Caius 
Octavius  (better  known  by  his  imperial  title  of  "Augus- 
tus Caesar"),  whose  legal  name  (after  adoption)  was 
Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus.  The  Senate  at  first 
sided  with  Octavianus,  and  afterward  veered  round  to 
Antony.  The  result  was  a  coalition  known  as  the  "Sec- 
ond Triumvirate." 

Antony,  Octavius,  and  Lepidus  (an  insignificant  per- 
son, from  lack  either  of  ability  or  of  energy)  arranged,  in 
B.  C.  43,  to  divide  the  supreme  power  amongst  them- 
selves. The  first  step  needed  was  to  crush  their  enemies, 
and  this  Octavius  and  Antony  did  with  a  cruelty  more 
disgraceful  than  that  shown  in  the  proscriptions  of  Mar- 
ius  and  Sulla.  Slaughter  lists  were  made  out,  and  bands 
of  murderers  and  plunderers  let  loose  on  the  victims. 
Hundreds  of  Senators,  thousands  of  knights  (the 
"  Equites "),  and  many  thousands  of  citizens  were  slain, 
and  their  property  plundered.  The  most  illustrious  of 
the  victims  was  the  great  orator  Cicero,  who  had  pro- 
voked the  rage  of  Antony  by  denouncing  him  in  the 
speeches  known  as  "Cicero's  Philippics."  The  triumvirs 
then  turned  against  Brutus  and  Cassius,  who  had  raised  a 
large  army  in  the  East,  and  taken  up  their  position  in 
Thrace.  In  November,  B.  C.  42,  Antony  and  Octavius 
utterly  defeated  them  at  the  two  battles  of  Philippi,  in 
the  east  of  Macedonia,  and  Brutus  and  Cassius  died  by 
self-murder.  The  attempt  to  galvanize  the  dead  repub- 
lic into  life  had  signally  and  finally  failed. 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  249 

The  Roman  world  was  now  divided  amongst  the  vic- 
tors. Antony  took  the  portion  eastward  from  Italy,  Oc- 
tavianus  the  west,  and  Lepidus  had  Africa  assigned  to 
him.  A  confused  period  of  conflicts  and  quarrels 
between  the  triumvirs  ensued.  In  B.  C.  40  the  peace  of 
Brundusium  reconciled  Antony  and  Octavianus  for  a 
time;  in  B.  C.  36  Lepidus  was  expelled  from  the  league, 
and  returned  from  his  province  to  live  quietly  at  Rome. 
The  conduct  of  Antonius  with  Cleopatra,  the  fascinating 
Queen  of  Egypt,  at  last  occasioned  the  certain  rupture 
between  him  and  Octavianus.  Antony  had  married 
Octavia,  his  rival's  sister,  and  then  divorced  her  in  order 
to  marry  Cleopatra.  With  her  at  Alexandria  he  assumed 
the  pomp  and  lived  the  life  of  an  Eastern  despot,  and  his 
doings  had  disgusted  many  of  his  own  supporters.  The 
wary,  cool,  and  hypocritical  Octavianus  had  meanwhile 
been  strengthening  his  position  in  Italy  and  the  West  by 
rewarding  veterans  with  lands,  and  cementing  the  attach- 
ment of  his  legions  to  his  person;  by  successful  warfare  in 
Illyria  and  Pannonia  (northeast  of  Adriatic  Sea),  and  by 
the  general  contrast  of  his  actions  with  those  of  the  reck- 
less Antony.  In  B.  C.  32  the  Senate  declared  war  against 
Cleopatra,  and  this  meant  that  Octavius  and  Antonius 
were  to  meet  in  a  decisive  struggle. 

Antony  had  gathered  his  fleet  (aided  by  Cleopatra  in 
person  with  sixty  galleys)  and  his  army  at  Actium  on  the 
Ambracian  Gulf,  south  of  Epirus,  and  there  Octavius 
encountered  him  in  the  first  days  of  September,  B.  C. 
31.  The  contest  was  decided  by  a  naval  battle,  in  the 
midst  of  which  Cleopatra  fled  with  the  Egyptian  squad- 
ron, and  was  ignominiously  followed  by  Antony,  whose 
ships  and  army  then  surrendered  to  his  foe.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  (B.  C.  30)  Octavianus  followed  Antony  and 
Cleopatra  to  Alexandria,  where  the  unhappy  pair  com- 


250      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

mitted  suicide — he  with  his  sword,  she  with  a  poisonous 
snake,  the  asp — rather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
cold-blooded  conqueror,  who  would  have  killed  the  one 
and  kept  the  other  to  grace  a  Roman  triumph,  as  a  cap- 
tive, with  her  charms.  Egypt,  in  B.  C.  30,  thus  became 
a  Roman  Province,  and  Rome's  dominion  in  the  Medi- 
terranean basin  now  became  formally,  as  it  had  long  been 
virtually,  complete. 

The  Roman  Empire,  replacing  the  Roman  Republic, 
had  become  a  fact,  being  founded  by  Julius  Csesar,  after 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  and  now  to  be  consolidated  by 
Octavianus,  after  Actium.  The  conqueror  in  the  last 
civil  strife  was  at  the  head  of  a  vast  military  force,  de- 
voted to  his  service.  The  provinces,  long  oppressed  by 
the  proconsuls  and  propraetors  of  the  commonwealth, 
hailed  the  accession  to  power  of  a  single  absolute  ruler, 
who  would,  it  was  hoped,  put  an  end  to  all  tyranny  of 
petty  Governors.  The  people  of  Rome,  rejoicing  in  the 
humiliation  of  the  aristocracy,  and  desiring  only  to  be 
fed  with  imported  corn,  and  amused  by  the  spectacles  of 
the  circus  and  the  theater,  were  equally  ready  to  submit 
to  the  monarch  who  would  supply  them  with  both.  All 
citizens  of  wealth  and  culture,  desiring  ease  and  quiet  as 
the  greatest  of  earthly  blessings,  rejoiced  in  the  prospect 
of  relief  from  the  blood  and  violence  of  the  past.  The 
Republican  faction  had  perished  either  on  the  field  of 
battle  or  by  the  murders  of  the  proscription.  The  Sen- 
ate had  lost  authority  and  dignity  alike,  having  been 
largely  increased  in  numbers  by  the  admission  of  Gauls 
and  other  provincials  under  Julius  Csesar's  brief  tenure 
of  power,  and  was  prepared  to  give  its  formal  sanction  to 
all  that  a  master  should  ordain. 

In  B.  C.  29  Octavianus  returned  to  Rome  and  cele- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  251 

brated  three  triumphs  for  his  successes  in  Dalmatia,  and 
over  Antonius,  and  for  the  addition  of  Egypt  to  the 
Roman  dominion.  The  so-called  "Temple"  of  Janus 
was  shut  in  token  of  general  peace.  Secure  in  power  as 
he  was,  he  sought  for  no  more  victims,  and  acted  with 
conspicuous  moderation  and  prudence.  The  great  his- 
torian Gibbon  describes  him  as  having  "a  cool  head,  an 
unfeeling  heart,  and  a  cowardly  disposition,"  and  as 
wearing  throughout  his  life  the  mask  of  hypocrisy.  The 
truth  seems  to  be  that  he  was  a  man  who,  with  no  innate 
cruelty,  and  with  a  perfect  self-command,  adapted  means 
to  ends  throughout  his  career,  and,  filled  with  "an  aus- 
tere and  passionless  ambition,"  struck  down  his  enemies 
with  pitiless  severity  when  he  deemed  it  needful  for  his 
safety,  and,  once  safe,  sheathed  the  no  longer  needed 
sword  forevermore.  In  B.  C.  27  the  Senate  conferred 
upon  Octavianus  for  ten  years  the  Imperatorship,  which 
was  the  symbol  of  absolute  power,  and  saluted  him  with 
the  title  of  "Augustus,"  by  which  name  he  is  best  known 
in  history. 

"The  Latin  literature  of  the  Republican  period  which 
has  come  down  to  us  (Macaulay's  Lays,  Preface)  consists 
almost  exclusively  of  works  fashioned  on  Greek  models. 
The  Latin  meters,  heroic,  elegiac,  lyric,  and  dramatic, 
are  of  Greek  origin.  The  best  Latin  epic  poetry  is  the 
feeble  echo  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey.  The  best  Latin 
eclogues  are  imitations  of  Theocritus.  The  plan  of  the 
most  finished  didactic  poem  (the  Georgics)  in  the  Latin 
tongue  was  taken  from  Hesiod.  The  Latin  tragedies 
are  bad  copies  of  the  masterpieces  of  Sophocles  and 
Euripides.  The  Latin  comedies  are  free  translations 
from  Demophilus,  Menander,  and  Apollodorus.  The 
Latin  philosophy  was  borrowed  without  alteration  from 


252      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  'Portico*  and  the  'Academy/  and  the  great  Latin 
orators  constantly  proposed  to  themselves  as  patterns 
the  speeches  of  Demosthenes  and  Lysias." 

Macaulay  observes :  "Satire  is  the  only  sort  of  com- 
position in  which  the  Latin  poets,  whose  works  have 
come  down  to  us,  were  not  mere  imitators  of  foreign 
models;  and  it  is  therefore  the  only  sort  of  composition 
in  which  they  have  never  been  rivaled."  Satire  sprang,  in 
truth,  naturally  from  the  Constitution  of  the  Roman 
Government,  and  from  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  people." 
The  origin  of  the  Satire  (a  word  meaning  "mixture" 
or  "medley")  was  the  Fescennine  Songs  (a  name  derived 
from  an  Etruscan  town),  a  rude  style  of  extempore  dia- 
logues, in  which  the  country  people  "chaffed"  each  other 
at  their  festivals.  The  founder  of  Roman  satire,  as  a 
poetical  composition,  is  held  to  have  been  Lucilius  (B.  C. 
149-103),  who  wrote  in  rough-and-ready  hexameter 
verses  against  the  vices  and  follies  both  of  individuals  and 
of  mankind  at  large.  The  fragments  which  remain  of 
his  writings  show  a  coarse  and  stinging  pleasantry  and 
personality.  No  other  Roman  satirists  occur  till  the 
period  of  the  Empire. 

Among  the  greatest  of  Roman  poets  was  Lucretius 
(B.  C.  96-52).  He  has  left  a  philosophical  poem  in  hexa- 
meter verse,  called  De  Rerum  Natura  ("on  the  nature  of 
things"),  in  which  he  maintains  the  "atomic  theory"  of 
the  origin  of  the  universe.  The  work  is  admitted  to  be 
the  greatest  of  all  didactic  poems  for  the  clearness  and 
stateliness  of  its  style  and  the  beauty  and  power  of  its 
descriptions  and  episodes.  It  is  a  truly  grand  and  orig- 
inal effort  of  Roman  literary  genius.  Another  great 
Roman  poet  was  Catullus  (B.  C.  82  to  about  40).  His 
writings  are  lyrical,  elegiac,  and  epigrammatic,  partly 
imitated  from  the  Greek,  but  adorned  with  much  orig- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  253 

inality  and  grace  of  invention  and  expression.  One 
poem,  called  "Atys,"  on  a  Greek  myth  of  a  shepherd 
beloved  by  the  goddess  Cybele,  is  full  of  passion  and 
power. 

Varro  (B.  C.  116-28)  was  the  most  learned  man  of 
Republican  Rome.  Caesar  employed  him  to  superin- 
tend the  collection  and  arrangement  of  the  great  public 
library  which  he  instituted.  Only  two  of  his  very  num- 
erous works  are  extant,  and  one  only  in  a  perfect  form — 
a  work  on  agriculture,  the  other  being  a  treatise  on  the 
Latin  language,  which  has  preserved  much  valuable  in- 
formation on  Roman  usages.  Sallust  (B.  C.  86-34)  is 
well  known  for  his  two  vigorous  historical  treatises  on 
the  Jugurthine  War  and  Catiline's  Conspiracy.  Cicero 
(B.  C.  107-43)  is  renowned  as  an  orator,  essayist,  and 
letter-writer,  his  style  being  esteemed  the  perfection  of 
Latin  prose.  At  his  favorite  villa  (country-house)  at 
Tusculum,  a  few  miles  distant  from  Rome,  he  received 
his  literary  friends,  and  had  a  splendid  library,  constantly 
enlarged  by  the  labors  of  the  Greek  slaves  whom  he 
employed  as  copyists  of  the  works  of  the  Greek  writers. 

Oratory  was  one  of  the  chief  pursuits  of  educated 
Romans.  Antonius  "the  orator"  (B.  C.  143-87)  is 
named  by  Cicero  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  speak- 
ers of  that  earlier  time.  Hortensius  (B.  C.  114-50)  was 
the  greatest  orator  of  his  day  until  Cicero  surpassed  him, 
and  was  noted  for  his  florid  style  and  graceful  and  elab- 
orate gestures. 


ROME   AS    AN    EMPIRE 

The  system  of  rule  established  by  Augustus  Caesar, 
when  he  became  master  of  the  Roman  world  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six  (in  B.  C.  27),  was  such  as  accorded  with  the 
prudence  and  moderation  of  his  character.  As  Gibbon 
says:  "He  was  sensible  that  mankind  is  governed  by 
names,  and  expected,  as  he  found,  that  the  Senate  and 
people  would  submit  to  slavery,  provided  they  were 
respectfully  assured  that  they  still  enjoyed  their  ancient 
freedom."  Accordingly,  the  Republican  offices  were 
still  retained,  but  the  one  person  who  was  invested  with 
them  all,  or  who  dictated  the  election  to  them  all,  was 
the  Imperator,  the  head  of  the  State.  His  power  was 
secured  by  the  military  establishment,  of  which  he  was 
the  permanent  head;  to  him  every  soldier  swore  personal 
fidelity;  by  him  every  officer  was  directly  appointed.  The 
legionaries  and  the  aristocracy  were  thus  alike  devoted 
to  his  will  "by  the  restraints  of  discipline,  the  allurements 
of  honor,  and  the  ideas  of  military  devotion."  The  im- 
perial system  was,  in  fact,  a  military  despotism  under 
Republican  forms,  the  names  of  the  ancient  free  State 
being  retained  as  a  veil  to  cover  the  fact  of  autocratic 
rule. 

The  provinces  were  divided,  as  to  their  administra- 
tion, between  the  Senate  and  the  Emperor,  in  such  a 
manner  that  those  in  which  regular  armies  were  stationed 
belonged  to  Augustus,  while  the  rest  were  assigned  to 
the  Senate  and  the  people.  The  Governors  of  the  Sena- 
torial provinces  held  their  office,  according  to  the  ancient 
custom,  only  for  one  year,  while  the  Lieutenant-Gov- 

254 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  255 

ernors  appointed  by  the  Emperor  kept  their  posts  for 
various  terms.  The  dignity  of  the  Senate  was  outwardly 
maintained  by  a  deference  to  its  decision  on  the  most 
important  question  of  peace  and  war;  in  civil  and  crim- 
inal matters  it  was  the  highest  judicial  court;  in  legisla- 
tion it  was  held  to  be  supreme  as  representing  the 
Roman  people.  The  debates  were  conducted  with  much 
show  of  freedom,  and  the  Emperor  sat  and  voted  as  a 
Senator  among  his  equals,  or,  at  the  most,  as  a  leader  in 
the  Assembly.  No  outward  show,  as  of  sovereignty, 
was  assumed  by  the  real  ruler  of  the  State;  and  in  this 
way  all  popular  jealousy  as  to  "kingship,"  which  was  so 
hateful  an  idea  to  Romans,  was  avoided. 

The  boundaries  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  time  of 
Augustus  were  as  follows:  On  the  north  the  English 
Channel,  the  Rhine,  the  Danube  (Ister),  and  the  Black 
Sea;  on  the  east  the  Euphrates  and  the  Syrian  Desert; 
on  the  south  the  great  African  Desert  (the  Sahara),  and 
on  the  west  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  In  round  numbers, 
this  great  dominion  was  about  2,700  miles  from  east  to 
west,  with  an  average  breadth  of  1,000  miles.  A  great 
military  force  was  kept  on  the  frontiers  at  the  Rhine,  the 
Danube,  and  in  Syria,  and  the  commerce  of  the  Medi- 
terranean was  protected  by  two  permanent  fleets,  with 
stations  at  Ravenna  on  the  Adriatic,  and  at  Misenum  in 
the  Bay  of  Naples.  The  imposing  size  of  the  Roman 
Empire  is  seen  at  once  by  a  mention  of  the  modern  coun- 
tries  whose  territory  it  included  at  this  time,  these  being- 
— Portugal,  Spain,  France,  Belgium,  part  of  Holland, 
Rhenish  Prussia,  parts  of  Bavaria,  Baden,  and  Wurtem- 
berg,  Switzerland,  Italy,  the  Tyrol,  Austria  proper,  part 
of  Hungary,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Servia,  Turkey  in 
Europe,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt, 
Tripoli,  Tunis,  Algeria,  and  most  of  Morocco.  The 


256      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

population  of  the  Empire  under  Augustus  is  supposed  to 
have  been  about  one  hundred  millions,  of  whom  one-half 
were  slaves. 

In  this  view  we  have  the  Western  (or  European) 
provinces,  the  Eastern  (or  Asiatic),  and  the  Southern  (or 
African).  In  the  west,  the  civilization  became  mainly 
Roman,  so  that  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Africa  the  Latin 
language  and  Roman  customs  were  adopted.  In  the 
east,  from  the  Adriatic  Sea  to  Mount  Taurus  (in  south- 
east of  Asia  Minor),  the  civilization  remained  Greek  in 
language  and  manners.  In  the  east,  beyond  Mount 
Taurus,  and  southward  to  and  including  Egypt,  the  civ- 
ilization remained  largely  Oriental,  though  at  Alex- 
andria and  some  other  great  cities  the  Greek  language 
and  culture  had  become  established  by  the  Macedonian 
conquest. 

Of  this  vast  empire  the  capital  was  Rome,  the  popula- 
tion of  which  may  have  been  a  million  and  a  half.  It 
was  after  the  conquest  of  Carthage  and  of  Greece  that 
Rome  began  to  be  truly  splendid  in  its  public  buildings 
and  private  houses,  and  very  great  additions  and  im- 
provements were  made  under  Augustus.  The  city  had 
long  since  extended  beyond  the  ancient  walls,  and  was 
practically  unfortified.  Augustus  divided  the  whole 
city,  for  purposes  of  police,  into  fourteen  districts 
(Regiones),  containing  two  classes  of  dwellings,  called 
domus  ("mansions")  and  insulae  (literally  islands,  mean- 
ing here,  detached  piles  of  buildings,  or  blocks).  The 
domus  were  the  abodes  of  the  nobles,  and  the  insulse  were 
divided  into  sets  of  apartments  and  single  rooms,  as  the 
dwellings  of  the  middle  and  the  lower  classes. 

The  successors  of  Augustus  added  largely  to  the 
number.  The  magnificence  of  the  city  in  imperial  times 
can  best  be  described  by  mentioning  Fora  (paved  spaces 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  257 

surrounded  by  buildings),  Campi  (recreation  grounds, 
like  our  parks),  temples  (by  hundreds,  including  the 
small  shrines),  theaters,  amphitheaters,  Thermae  (large 
and  splendid  buildings,  which  included  baths,  gymnastic 
grounds,  porticoes  for  loungers,  libraries,  sculptures, 
fountains,  and  shady  walks),  triumphal  arches,  Curias 
(or  Senate  houses),  Castra  (or  barracks),  palaces,  Horti 
(public  or  private  gardens,  adorned  with  works  of  art), 
mausoleums,  columns,  and  obelisks. 

The  period  of  Augustus  is  the  most  brilliant  in  the 
history  of  Roman  literature,  whether  as  regards  poetry 
or  prose.  Hence,  from  being  originally  applied  to  this 
period,  "Augustan  age"  has  come  to  be  a  proverbial 
expression  for  a  period  of  literary  fruitfulness  and  vigor 
in  the  history  of  any  civilized  country.  Augustus  him- 
self was  a  liberal  patron  of  literary  men,  and  his  age  has 
been  made  illustrious  by  the  number  and  eminence  of 
the  writers  who  appeared  in  it. 

Virgil's  name  alone  is  sufficient  to  crown  the  Augus- 
tan age  with  greatness.  He  was  the  first  of  the  famous 
Latin  poets,  the  greatest  in  the  history  of  Rome  and 
admittedly  one  of  the  half  dozen  greatest  the  world  has 
seen.  Publius  Vergilus  Maro  was  his  name,  and  he  was 
born  near  Mantua,  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  lived  from  B.  C. 
70  to  19.  His  father  was  a  moderately  wealthy  farmer, 
who  was  rich  enough  to  send  his  son  to  Rome,  where 
he  studied  rhetoric  and  philosophy  under  the  best  teach- 
ers of  his  time.  Virgil's  farm  was  confiscated  during  the 
civil  wars  of  the  period,  but  his  rising  fame  as  a  poet 
brought  him  to  the  attention  of  the  Governor  of  his 
Province,  and  afterward  to  that  of  the  powerful  Minister, 
Maecenas,  who  added  him  to  the  circle  of  court  poets 
which  made  the  age  famous.  His  eclogues,  or  pastoral 
poems,  published  in  B.  C.  37,  were  received  with  enthusi- 

Voi,.  i  — 17 


258      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

asm.  Maecenas  gave  him  a  villa  near  Naples  and  a 
country  house  near  Nola,  where  he  lived  seven  years  and 
composed  the  Georgics,  or  Art  of  Husbandry,  a  poem 
in  four  books,  which  deals  with  tillage  and  pasturage, 
the  breeding  of  horses  and  cattle,  and  other  bucolic  sub- 
jects, but  which,  on  their  appearance  in  B.  C.  30,  for  their 
poetic  merit  made  him  admittedly  by  his  contemporaries 
the  greatest  poet  of  his  day.  The  remaining  eleven 
years  of  his  life  were  devoted  to  the  writing  of  the  yEneid, 
the  famous  national  epic  of  the  Romans,  which  described 
the  wanderings  of  ^neas,  the  Trojan,  the  legendary 
founder  of  the  Roman  Nation  and  the  Julian  family, 
from  the  fall  of  Troy  to  his  arrival  in  Italy,  his  wars  and 
alliances  with  the  native  Italian  races,  and  his  final  estab- 
lishment of  his  new  kingdom.  Virgil  spent  three  years 
in  revising  the  ^Eneid,  and  at  his  death  ordered  that  it  be 
burnt,  because  it  had  not  been  polished  sufficiently.  But 
Augustus  refused,  and  it  was  published  as  we  now  know 
it.  Virgil  was  shy,  silent,  and  reserved  in  manner,  and 
was  never  married.  His  sincerity  and  sweetness  of 
temper  won  even  the  praise  of  Horace,  who  is  not  lavish 
of  praise;  and  the  fastidious  purity  of  his  life  in  an  age 
of  very  lax  morality  gained  him  the  name  of  "lady." 
The  supremacy  of  Virgil  in  Latin  poetry  was  immediate 
and  almost  unquestioned.  His  works  became  classics 
among  his  countrymen  and  have  been  studied  in  the 
schools  in  all  Europe  since  as  models  of  Latin  style. 
Critics  say  that  the  Georgics  are  his  greatest  poems,  be- 
cause of  their  elegant  finish  and  masterly  verse.  The 
yEneid  has  passages  of  equal  grace,  but  is  more  uneven. 
His  dramatic  power,  finished  beauty  of  language,  and  his 
imaginative  insight,  with  his  intricate  and  rich  harmonies, 
have  given  his  work  a  secure  place  ki  literature,  where  it 
ranks  as  one  of  the  greatest  names.  All  other  Latin 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  259 

poetry  is  estimated  by  the  degree  in  which  it  falls  short 
of  his. 

Horace  wooed  the  lyric  muse  in  his  verse.  He  was 
born  at  Venusia,  in  Apulia,  and  lived  from  B.  C.  65  to  8. 
He  went  to  school  at  Rome  and  afterward  at  Athens, 
but  losing  his  property  was  forced  to  write  verses,  as 
he  says,  for  a  living.  His  earliest  were  chiefly  satires 
and  personal  lampoons,  but  it  was  probably  through 
some  of  his  first  lyrics  that  he  became  known  to  Virgil, 
who  introduced  him  to  Maecenas,  to  whose  gift  Horace 
owed  the  celebrated  farm  among  the  Sabine  hills.  Hor- 
ace was  the  poet-laureate  of  his  age,  and  wrote  odes  to 
order  in  honor  of  various  events.  His  Epistles  are  dis- 
tinguished for  grace,  ease,  good  sense,  and  wit.  His 
Satires,  his  earliest  publication,  which  appeared  about 
35  B.  C.,  are  satires  more  of  manners  and  follies  than 
of  vice  or  impiety.  Horace  was  always  a  man  of  the 
world,  as  was  shown  clearly  in  his  Odes,  his  greatest 
work,  which  appeared  in  B.  C.  19,  when  he  was  forty-six 
years  of  age.  These  are  terse,  melodious,  and  exquisite 
in  finish — the  delight  of  scholars  in  all  ages.  Horace's 
historical  position  in  Latin  literature  is  this:  On  the 
one  hand  he  carried  on  and  perfected  the  native  Roman 
growth  and  satire  from  the  ruder  essays  of  Lucilius,  so 
to  make  Roman  life  live  anew  under  his  pen ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  he  naturalized  the  meters  and  manners  of 
the  Greek  lyric  poets.  His  poems  are  of  great  value  as 
a  picture  of  life  during  his  times. 

Tibullus  (lived  from  about  B.  C.  55  to  18)  has  left 
some  books  of  elegiac  poems  distinguished  by  pure  taste 
and  graceful  language.  Propertius  (B.  C.  51-16)  left 
elegiac  poems  of  considerable  beauty  and  power,  ranked 
by  the  ancient  critics  with  those  of  Tibullus. 

Ovid's  poems  are  marked  by  richness  of  fancy  and  by 


260      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

variety  and  beauty  of  phrase.  His  Latin  name  was  Pub- 
lius  Ovidius  Naso.  He  was  born  at  Sulmo,  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Peligni  (a  tribe  in  Central  Italy),  and  lived 
from  B.  C.  43  to  A.  D.  18.  His  Metamorphoses  are 
legends  or  fables  on  heaven-wrought  "transformations" 
of  men  and  women,  in  the  mythical  age,  into  other  crea- 
tures ;  the  Fasti  is  a  sort  of  calendar  in  verse,  introducing 
the  Roman  festivals  and  the  mythological  origin  of  the 
same.  His  amatory  poems  (Amores,  or  "loves,"  Ars 
Amatoria,  or  "Art  of  Love,"  and  Remedia  Amoris,  or 
"Remedies  for  Love")  are  clever  and  licentious;  the 
Epistolse  Heroidum  ("Letters  of  the  Heroines")  are  let- 
ters in  verse,  purporting  to  have  been  written  to  absent 
lovers  or  husbands  by  women  famous  in  olden  legend. 
Phaedrus  is  believed  to  have  been  a  freedman  of  Augus- 
tus, and  has  left,  in  iambic  verse,  Latin  adaptations  of 
the  Greek  ^sop's  Fables,  expressed  with  clearness  and 
conciseness. 

The  historian  Livy  (in  Latin,  Titus  Livius)  was  born 
at  Patavium  (now  Padua),  and  lived  from  B.  C.  59  to 

A.  D.  17.     He  wrote  a  history  of  Rome  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  city  to  B.  C.  9,  in  142  books,  of  which  35 
have  come  down  to  our  time.     The  "lost  books  of  Livy" 
is  an  expression  which  testifies  to  the  regret  of  the  mod- 
erns for  perished  treasures,  leaving  one  of  the  greatest 
gaps  in  the  literature  of  the  world.     The  existing  books 
are:  I-X,  giving  the  history  from  Rome's  foundation  to 

B.  C.  294;  XXI-XXX,  giving  the  history  from  B.  C. 
219  to  201,  and  including,  happily,  the    Second    Punic 
War;  XXXI-XLV,  containing  the  history  from  B.  C. 
201  to  167,  and  including  Roman  wars  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
Macedoniaf  Greece,  and  Asia  Minor.     As  a  critical  his- 
torian, in  the  modern  sense  of  one  who  tests  authorities 
and  aims  at  the  transmission  of  indubitable  fact,  so  far  as 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  261 

he  can  ascertain  it,  Livy  is  lacking;  as  a  writer  of  his- 
torical narrative  he  stands  among  the  foremost  mas- 
ters of  style  in  the  world — becoming-,  as  occasion  re- 
quires, simple,  rich,  picturesque,  and  vivid,  and  remain- 
ing always  calm,  clear,  and  strong. 

Velleius  Paterculus  (lived  about  B.  C.  19  to  A.  D. 
31)  wrote  (in  a  clear,  concise,  and  vigorous  style,  much 
like  that  of  Sallust)  a  compendium  of  universal  history, 
chiefly  as  connected  with  Rome.  Seneca,  the  philos- 
opher (Lucius  Annaeus  Seneca),  was  born  about  B.  C.  5, 
at  Corduba  (Cordova),  in  Spain,  and  lived  till  A.  D.  65. 
He  was  first  tutor,  and  afterward  one  of  the  chief  Minis- 
ters of  the  Emperor  Nero,  but  being  accused  of  conspir- 
ing against  the  tyrant  he  was  sentenced  to  death,  and 
was  forced  to  commit  suicide.  The  writings  of  Seneca 
(a  Stoic  philosopher)  are  chiefly  moral  treatises  con- 
taining much  good,  sound  thought,  clearly  and  vigor- 
ously expressed.  He  has  left  also  ten  tragedies,  mostly 
on  Greek  mythological  subjects. 

Pliny  the  Elder  (Caius  Plinius  Secundus)  lived  from 
A.  D.  23  to  79,  and  has  left  a  voluminous  work  called 
Historia  Naturalis  ("Natural  History"),  which,  besides 
treating  of  natural  history  proper,  deals  also  with  geog- 
raphy, astronomy,  human  inventions,  and  institutions, 
the  fine  arts,  etc.,  furnishing  a  wonderful  but  ill-digested 
and  uncritical  proof  of  his  industry  and  learning.  This 
enthusiastic  scholar  died  by  suffocation  from  poisonous 
gases  emitted  in  the  first  recorded  eruption  of  Mount 
Vesuvius  (A.  D.  79,  as  above),  having  too  closely  ap- 
proached the  scene  of  action  in  his  eagerness  for  observa- 
tion. He  was  at  the  time  in  command  of  the  Roman 
fleet  stationed  at  Misenum. 

This  eruption  was  the  one  which  buried  the  city  of 
Herculaneum  (from  70  to  100  feet  deep)  under  showers 


262      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  ashes,  sand,  and  rock.  It  has  been  partially  exca- 
vated, having  been  accidentally  discovered  in  A.  D.  1720 
by  the  sinking  of  a  well.  At  the  same  time  the  city  of 
Pompeii  was  overwhelmed  by  ashes,  over  which  a  soil 
was  gradually  formed,  and  the  excavations  made  since 
A.  D.  1721  have  uncovered  about  half  the  place,  and 
revealed  most  valuable  and  interesting  facts  as  to  ancient 
Roman  life. 

*  ,  Persius,  born  in  Etruria,  lived  from  A.  D.  34  to  62, 
and  has  left  six  short  Satires  in  verse,  remarkable  for 
their  difficulty,  and  containing  some  fine  passages. 
Lucan  (in  Latin,  Marcus  Annseus  Lucanus)  was  born  at 
Corduba  (Cordova),  in  Spain,  and  lived  from  A.  D.  39 
to  65.  He  wrote  the  famous  extant  heroic  poem  called 
Pharsalia,  giving  an  account  of  the  struggle  between 
Julius  Caesar  and  Pompey.  This  is  an  unequal  work, 
having  finely  imaginative  and  vigorous  passages,  with 
much  that  is  overwrought  and  inartistic.  Martial  (Mar- 
cus Valerius  Martialis)  was  born  in  Spain,  and  lived  from 
A.  D.  43  to  about  105.  He  is  the  well-known  writer  of 
epigrams  (short,  witty  poems),  of  which  we  have  four- 
teen books,  and  has  never  been  surpassed  in  that  style 
for  wit  and  happiness  of  expression. 

Pliny  the  Younger  (Caius  Plinius  Csecilius  Secundus, 
nephew  of  the  elder  Pliny)  was  born  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
and  lived  from  A.  D.  61  till  after  115.  He  has  left  ten 
books  of  interesting  and  valuable  letters,  including  two  of 
great  celebrity  (one  addressed  by  Pliny  to  the  Emperor 
Trajan,  the  other,  Trajan's  reply),  concerning  the  con- 
duct of  the  early  Christians  and  their  treatment  by  the 
Roman  civil  magistrates.  Quintilian  (Marcus  Fabius 
Quintilianus)  (42-120)  born  in  Spain,  left  a  famous  work 
on  rhetoric,  which  contains  the  opinions  of  a  most  accom- 
plished instructor  on  the  proper  training  for  the  art  of 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  263 

oratory  in  its  highest  development.  The  matter  and  style 
of  this  great  treatise  are  alike  admirable. 

Two  of  the  greatest  writers,  not  only  in  Roman,  but 
in  any  literature,  were,  first,  the  renowned  satirist  Juve- 
nal (Decimus  Junius  Juvenalis),  who  wrote  about  A.  D. 
80-100,  and  has  left  sixteen  satires  in  verse  (if  the  last 
fragmentary  one  be  really  his),  aimed  mainly  at  the 
grosser  vices  of  his  day.  The  Sixth  Satire  (against  the 
Roman  ladies,  then  shockingly  depraved)  and  the  Tenth 
(on  the  vanity  of  human  wishes)  are  the  most  vigorous 
of  this  powerful  writer's  denunciations.  The  second, 
the  historian  Tacitus  (Caius  Cornelius  Tacitus),  who 
lived  from  about  55  to  117.  Distinguished  in  his  own 
day  as  an  orator,  and  will  be  ever  famous  as  a  historian 
of  peculiar  powers  of  perception  and  expression.  His 
insinuation  of  motives  for  the  human  actions  which  he 
records  is  impressive  and  masterly;  his  method  of  using 
the  Latin  tongue  gives  it  a  wonderful  power  for  com- 
pression of  much  meaning  into  few  words.  His  extant 
works  are  :  A  life  of  Agricola,  his  father-in-law,  Roman 
Governor  of  Britain,  one  of  the  finest  biographies  ever 
written;  four  books  of  Histories  (part  of  a  larger  work), 
giving  an  account  of  the  important  events  which  oc- 
curred in  A.  D.  69,  70;  some  books  of  his  greatest  work, 
the  Annals,  which  contained  the  history  of  the  Empire 
from  A.  D.  14  to  68,  and  a  treatise  on  the  Germanic 
Nations. 

Suetonius,  the  historian,  lived  from  about  A.  D.  72 
to  140,  and  has  left  (besides  some  minor  works  of  a  bio- 
graphical nature)  a  valuable  book  called  "Lives  of  the 
Twelve  Caesars,"  including  Julius  Csesar  and  Domitian; 
it  is  the  matter,  not  the  style,  which  makes  the  work 
precious. 

Under  the  rule  of  Augustus  the  greatest  event  of  the 


264      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

world's  spiritual  history  occurred  in  Bethlehem  of  Judaea 
— the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  really  took  place  in 
the  year  4  B.  C,  but  the  erroneous  calculation  has,  for 
the  sake  of  convenience,  been  allowed  to  stand,  and  the 
chronology  passes  from  B.  C.  ("before  Christ")  to  A.  D. 
(anno  Domini,  "in  the  year  of  the  Lord"),  when  Augus- 
tus had  held  sway,  according  to  the  wrong  reckoning, 
for  twenty-seven  years. 

The  great  secular  fact  of  Rome's  history  under 
Augustus  Csesar  was  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Gen- 
eral, Varus,  and  his  legions  by  the  celebrated  Arminius 
in  Germany.  Arminius  is  the  Latin  form  of  the  Teu- 
tonic Herman,  the  great  National  hero  in  whose  honor  a 
colossal  statue  has  been  erected  in  the  northwest  part 
of  Germany,  near  the  scene  of  his  patriotic  and  mo- 
mentous achievement — one  which  decisively  affected  the 
whole  future  of  the  world's  history.  He  was  the  chief  of 
the  Cherusci,  a  powerful  tribe  dwelling  on  both  sides  of 
the  River  Visurgis  (Weser),  and  closely  akin  in  race  to  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  who  conquered  England,  and  gave 
to  Englishmen  their  being,  their  language,  their  free 
spirit,  and  the  germ  of  the  laws  and  institutions  which 
they  enjoy.  If  Arminius  had  not  done  what  he  did 
against  Rome,  Germany  might  have  been  thoroughly 
subdued;  the  Latin  language  might  have  extinguished 
the  Teutonic  as  it  had  the  Gallic  and  the  Spanish;  the 
Teutonic  tribes  might  have  been  overwhelmed;  the  Teu- 
tonic influence  in  molding  modern  Europe,  in  creating 
the  English  race,  might  never  have  been  exerted,  and  it 
is  clear  that  Europe  and  the  world  would  have  had  a 
widely  different  development  from  that  which  they  have 
actually  undergone. 

To  Arminius  belongs  the  glory  of  successfully  defy- 
ing the  power  to  which  Hannibal  in  Africa,  Mithridates 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  265 

in  Asia,  and  Vercingetorix  in  Gaul,  had  finally  and  disas- 
trously succumbed.  Under  the  rule  of  Augustus  the 
Roman  arms  had  been  extending  the  dominion  of  the 
all-conquering  Empire.  The  north  of  Spain  had  been 
subdued;  the  Roman  frontier  had  been  pushed  from  the 
Alps  to  the  Danube,  and  much  of  southern  Germany  had 
been  annexed.  The  Roman  eagles  had  been  carried 
even  to  the  Elbe,  and  it  seemed  that  the  Germanic  tribes, 
who  had,  under  the  Republic,  threatened  the  very  exist- 
ence of  Rome,  were  now,  under  the  Empire,  to  be  de- 
prived of  freedom,  fame,  and  future.  The  contest,  how- 
ever, was  really  one  between  Rome  in  her  decline  and 
Germany  in  her  rude  and  ancient  best,  when  to  courage 
she  added  truthfulness,  to  truthfulness  a  manly  inde- 
pendence and  a  love  of  freedom,  and  to  these  a  purity  of 
life,  a  practice  of  domestic  virtues,  which  had  become 
rare  indeed  in  Rome  degenerate  and  decayed.  Armin- 
ius,  as  chief  of  the  Cherusci,  headed  a  confederacy  of 
German  tribes  who  were  determined,  if  they  could,  to 
expel  from  northern  Germany  the  invaders  and  partial 
conquerors  of  the  Fatherland.  The  Roman  Governor, 
Quintilius  Varus,  and  his  officers  and  troops,  had  pro- 
voked the  German  outbreak  by  their  licentious  behavior 
toward  German  women,  and  the  vengeance  wreaked  on 
the  offenders  was  complete  in  itself,  and  effectual  for 
the  preservation  of  German  freedom  against  the  future 
efforts  of  Roman  armies.  The  German  hero,  when  his 
plans  were  formed,  tempted  Varus  and  his  three  legions 
by  a  revolt  of  the  tribes  near  the  Weser  and  the  Ems  to 
march  into  the  difficult  country  now  called  the  Teuto- 
burger  Wald,  a  woody  and  hilly  region  near  the  sources 
of  the  Lippe  and  the  Ems.  When  the  Roman  force  was 
thoroughly  entangled  amidst  the  forests,  glens,  and  hills, 
and  had  been  further  imperiled  by  the  rashness  of  Va- 


266      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

rus  (who  was  as  incompetent  in  military  command  as  he 
was  insolent  and  oppressive  in  his  rule)  as  to  his  order  of 
march — then,  and  not  till  then,  Arminius  and  his  Ger- 
mans fell  on  the  hated  foe.  Front,  flanks,  and  rear  were 
assailed  at  once  with  fierce  shouts,  thick-hurled  darts, 
and  broadswords  keen  of  edge.  The  Roman  column 
was  pierced  and  disarranged;  the  Roman  cavalry  fled, 
but  was  pursued  and  utterly  destroyed.  Varus  slew  him- 
self in  despair.  The  infantry  of  Rome,  still  steady,  stub- 
born, disciplined,  and  brave,  was  overpowered  and  slain 
almost  to  the  last  man.  All  efforts  of  Rome  thereafter 
never  gave  her  a  secure  and  permanent  foothold  on  Ger- 
man soil.  This  great  deliverance  of  Germany,  so 
momentous  in  European  history,  was  wrought  in  A.  D. 
9.  Augustus,  cool  and  impassive  as  he  was,  was  often 
heard  to  wail  aloud  for  his  lost  legions,  and  Roman 
dominion  in  this  quarter  was  henceforth  virtually 
bounded  by  the  Rhine  until  the  time  came  when  Ger- 
mans were,  with  their  conquering  swords,  to  aid  in  carv- 
ing the  provinces  of  imperial  Rome  into  the  kingdoms 
of  modern  Europe. 

Augustus  died  in  A.  D.  14,  leaving  behind  him,  as 
the  result  of  his  efforts  dealing  with  the  materials  be- 
queathed to  him  by  Julius  Caesar,  an  Empire  thoroughly 
organized  on  a  system  of  centralization,  having  a  vast 
standing  army,  a  host  of  officials,  a  uniform  taxation;  an 
Empire  in  which  the  old  Roman  liberty  had  withered 
away  and  been  replaced  by  servility  and  stoicism.  The 
imperial  system  was,  in  fact,  a  concentration  of  military 
force  for  the  defense  of  the  Empire  against  foreign  foes, 
and  the  benefit  conferred  by  it  was  that  for  two  cen- 
turies the  world  was  in  the  main  at  peace.  If  republican 
liberty  was  extinguished,  material  happiness  was  iir 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  267 

creased.  The  chief  fact  of  the  time  is  that  freedom  was 
dead,  and  for  several  centuries  Europe  became  like  a 
scene  of  Asiatic  despotism.  That  effeminacy  came  upon 
men  which  always  infects  them  when  they  live  for  a  long 
time  under  the  rule  of  an  all-powerful  soldiery. 

Such  was  the  material  upon  which  Christianity  was 
in  due  time  to  work  with  its  transforming  and  trans- 
cendent influence  and  power. 

During  the  period  after  Augustus,  the  Roman  Empire, 
in  spite  of  some  rebellions  of  conquered  nationalities,  and 
contests  between  rival  claimants  of  the  imperial  power, 
was  mainly  in  a  condition  of  peace  and  material  prosper- 
ity.   The  frontier  of  the  Roman  dominion  was  not  only 
maintained  against  the  attacks  of  barbarians,  but  was  at 
some  points  greatly,  if  transiently,  extended.     In  the  west, 
in  Gaul  and  Spain,  the  Roman  civilization  was  thoroughly 
established.    In  the  center  and  east  of  the  Mediterranean 
shores  in  Europe  the  Greek  language  and  culture  were 
supreme,  and  Greek  philosophy  was  the  religion  of  the 
cultivated  classes  at  Rome.     In  the  Asiatic  part  of  the 
Empire  the  Oriental  ways  of  thought  were  preserved,  and 
the  East  in  the  end  gave  a  religion  to  its  conquerors  and 
masters.    The  political  distinction  of  the  Roman  citizen- 
ship was  still  existent,  and  the  Empire  might  fairly  be 
called  "Roman"  in  the  old  sense,  though  the  provincials 
were  more  and  more  freely  admitted  to  the  possession  of 
the  coveted  honor  of  being  "cives  Romani."    The  Senate 
was  still  invested  with  an  outward  dignity,  being  com- 
posed, in  the  latter  part  of  this  period,  of  distinguished 
men  chosen  by  the  Emperor  from  the  whole  Empire,  and 
resident  in  Italy  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  actual,  if 
formal,  deliberations.     The  best  of  the  Emperors  during 
this  period,  however  absolute  their  actual  power  might 


268      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

be,  assumed  only  the  character  of  life-presidents  of  the 
body  whose  cooperation  in  government  they  sought  and 
encouraged. 

The  "Claudian  Emperors"  derive  their  name  from 
Tiberius,  adopted  son  and  successor  of  Augustus,  belong- 
ing to  the  noble  family  of  the  Claudii,  and  owing  his 
power  to  being  recognized  by  the  Senate  as  the  appropriate 
possessor  of  the  imperial  dignity.  The  name  of  "Csesar" 
became  soon  a  species  of  title  attached  as  a  surname  to  all 
the  holders  of  imperial  power,  being  in  the  four  earlier 
instances  acquired  under  the  law  of  adoption.  The  Claud- 
ian Emperors  were  four  in  number — Tiberius  (ruled  A. 
D.  14-37),  Caligula  (37-41),  Claudius  (41-54),  and  Nero 
(54-68),  in  whom  the  family  of  the  great  Julius  Caesar 
became  extinct. 

Of  these,  Tiberius  had  shown  himself  an  able  general 
during  the  rule  of  Augustus.  As  Emperor  he  was  a 
gloomy,  suspicious,  hypocritical,  lustful,  and  in  every  way 
hateful  tyrant,  whose  character  has  been  drawn  with  con- 
summate skill  and  branded  with  ineffaceable  infamy  by 
the  historian  Tactitus.  A  reign  of  terror  existed  for  all  citi- 
zens who  were  conspicuous  in  ability  or  virtue,  while  a  host 
of  informers  used  an  elastic  law  of  treason  for  their 
destruction  at  the  prompting  of  the  Emperor.  His  wicked 
minister,  Sejanus,  commander  of  the  Praetorian  Guards, 
was  put  to  death  in  31.  Tiberius  lived  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life  at  the  island  of  Capreas  (Capri),  on  the  coast  of 
Campania,  and  was  then  murdered  by  smothering  almost 
as  he  drew  the  last  breath  of  old  age  and  disease. 

Caligula  was  a  madman  of  a  wicked  and  malignant 
type,  and  was  murdered  by  a  Tribune.  Claudius  was  a 
weak  ruler.  His  wife,  Messalina,  is  proverbial  for  immor- 
ality. In  his  reign  the  conquest  of  Britain  was  begun 
(A.  D.  43). 


r: 


Jlppius  CLAUDIUS  LmD  INTO  THE 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  269 

Nero  was  a  monster  of  vice  and  tyranny.  In  his  reign 
the  British  insurrection  under  Boadicea  took  place.  He 
was  at  last  deposed  by  the  Senate,  and  died  by  his  own 
hand.  Among  the  crimes  of  Nero  were  the  murder  of  his 
mother,  Agrippina,  and  the  persecution  of  the  Christians 
in  Rome  on  the  false  charge  of  causing  the  great  fire  there 
in  A.  D.  65.  Claudius  had  been  really  made  Emperor  by 
the  choice  of  the  soldiers,  which  the  Senate  confirmed, 
and  this  evil  precedent  was  often  followed  afterward.  The 
rule  of  the  empire  was  sometimes  at  the  disposal  of  the 
famous  "Praetorian  Guard,"  the  headquarters  in  Rome  of 
the  military  force,  and  the  armies  also  in  different  parts 
of  the  Empire  chose  their  own  Generals  as  Emperors  in 
the  two  years  of  confusion  that  succeeded  the  suicide  of 
Nero  in  A.  D.  68. 

The  disorders  of  these  calamitous  years  arose  from  a 
cause  to  which  the  military  system  and  vast  extension  of 
the  Empire  rendered  it  peculiarly  liable — the  rebellion  of 
great  officers  and  viceroys  entrusted  with  the  defense  of 
the  frontier.  The  Legati  (lieutenant-governors,  with  full 
military  and  civil  control)  of  the  Rhine,  of  the  Danube, 
and  of  Syria,  held  the  power  of  independent  sovereigns, 
and  under  weak  Emperors  or  in  case  of  disputed  succes- 
sion to  the  supreme  sway,  were  tempted  to  revolt. 

Thus  in  A.  D.  68,  Galba,  Governor  of  Spain,  revolted 
against  Nero,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Rome,  after  Nero's 
death,  was  acknowledged  as  Emperor.  Galba  had  been 
an  able  and  successful  Governor  in  Gaul  and  in  Africa, 
but  his  day  was  now  done  (at  seventy-one  years  of  age), 
and,  becoming  unpopular  with  his  troops  through  his 
severity  and  avarice,  and  with  the  people  from  the  doings 
of  unworthy  favorites,  he  was  murdered  (January,  69) 
in  a  military  rebellion  under  Otho,  who  had  been  a  vicious 
adherent  of  Nero's. 


270      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Otho  thus  became  Emperor  for  three  months.  At  this 
very  time  Vitellius,  noted  for  nothing  but  his  gluttony, 
being  Governor  in  part  of  Germany,  was  proclaimed 
Emperor  by  his  soldiers  at  Colonia  Agrippinensis 
(Cologne).  His  generals,  Valens  and  Caecina,  marched 
into  Italy  and  defeated  Otho  at  Bedriacum  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul  (between  Cremona  and  Verona).  Otho  killed  him- 
self, and  Vitellius  reached  Rome  and  was  accepted  as 
Emperor  in  July,  69.  Meanwhile,  early  in  the  same 
month,  Vespasianus,  Commander  of  the  Roman  army  in 
Judaea,  was  proclaimed  Emperor  at  Alexandria,  and 
acknowledged  throughout  the  East,  his  cause  being  also 
supported  by  the  army  of  the  Danube.  The  troops  of 
Vitellius  were  defeated  in  the  north  of  Italy;  the  legions 
from  Illyricum  seized  Rome  for  Vespasian;  the  Capitol 
was  burnt  in  the  civil  war  that  raged  in  the  city;  the  palace 
of  Vitellius  was  stormed,  and  the  Emperor  dragged  out, 
slain,  and  hurled  into  the  Tiber.  Amidst  these  horrors. 
Vespasian,  to  the  joy  of  all  good  citizens,  became  Emperor 
of  Rome,  arriving  at  the  city  in  A.  D.  69. 

The  Flavian  Emperors,  deriving  their  name  from 
Flavius  Vespasianus,  were  three  in  number — Vespasian, 
A.  D.  69-79;  Titus,  79-81,  and  Domitian,  81-96. 

Vespasian  was  a  man  of  high  character,  whose  rule 
was  an  unmixed  blessing  to  the  Empire.  Born  in  a  low 
class,  of  the  fine  old  Sabine  stock,  he  had  the  abilities  and 
virtues  of  a  Roman  of  the  antique  type — skill  and  bravery 
in  war,  strictness  of  rule,  simplicity  and  frugality  of  life, 
moderation  and  dignity  of  character.  The  chief  event  of 
his  reign  was  the  complete  suppression  of  the  Jewish 
revolt  (begun  in  66)  in  the  capture  and  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  his  son  Titus,  A.  D.  70.  The  dreadful  inci- 
dents of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  are  well  known.  The 
great  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79,  causing  the  destruc- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  271 

tion  of  the  towns  of  Herculaneum,  Pompeii,  and  Stabiae, 
near  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  occurred  two  months  after 
the  death  of  Vespasian,  June,  79,  who  was  succeeded  by 
his  elder  son,  Titus.  His  brief  reign  (two  years)  was 
marked  by  his  care  for  the  public  good,  and  by  the  comple- 
tion of  the  great  amphitheater  called  the  Colosseum. 

Domitian,  younger  son  of  Vespasian,  became  a  cruel 
tyrant,  under  whom  the  informers  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
were  again  rampant  with  their  false  charges  of  treason. 
The  conquest  of  Britain  was  completed  in  this  reign  by  the 
great  and  good  Agricola,  and  a  new  enemy  for  Rome 
appeared  in  the  Dacians,  dwelling  to  the  north  of  the  Dan- 
ube, in  the  territory  now  comprising  Transylvania,  Rou- 
mania,  and  part  of  Hungary.  This  warlike  people  had 
long  troubled  the  Danubian  frontier  by  their  inroads,  and 
in  the  years  A.  D.  86-90,  under  their  King  Decebalus,  they 
had  such  success  against  the  Roman  armies  that  Domitian 
disgraced  the  Empire  by  consenting  to  pay  tribute  to  Dacia 
for  freedom  from  harassing  attacks.  Domitian  was  mur- 
dered by  a  conspiracy  of  court  officials  in  96. 

In  the  reigns  of  the  five  "good  Emperors,"  we  come  to 
the  happiest  time  of  Rome's  imperial  sway.  They  suc- 
ceeded each  other  in  adoption  as  sons  by  their  predecessors. 

Nerva,  96-98,  a  cautious,  feeble,  humane,  and  virtuous 
man,  reigned  but  fifteen  months,  wisely  choosing  an  able 
and  vigorous  successor. 

Trajan,  A.  D.  98-1 17,  reckoned  the  greatest  of  Roman 
Emperors,  was  born  in  Spain  in  A.  D.  52,  being  the  first 
foreigner  that  attained  the  imperial  position.  In  physical 
strength  and  demeanor,  moral  excellence,  and  intellectual 
capacity,  Trajan  was  thoroughly  fit  to  rule.  His  suc- 
cesses in  war  extended  the  Roman  dominion  beyond  all 
former  limits.  Between  A.  D.  100  and  106  Dacia  was 
subdued  and  made  a  Roman  province,  the  Column  of 


272      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Trajan  at  Rome  being  erected  to  commemorate  the  Emper- 
or's victories  in  that  quarter.  Arabia  Petrsea  was  con- 
quered, Armenia  and  Parthia  were  humbled,  and  the  Per- 
sian Gulf,  for  the  first  and  last  time  in  Rome's  history,  was 
navigated  by  a  Roman  commander. 

Hadrian,  A.  D.  117-138,  was  an  active  ruler,  who 
visited  the  various  provinces  of  the  Empire,  in  order  to 
inspect  their  management  and  remedy  disorders.  In 
Britain  he  erected  the  famous  wall  from  the  Solway  Firth 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne.  He  was  an  excellent  Greek 
scholar,  residing  for  three  years  at  Athens,  and  greatly 
favoring  its  people.  He  subdued  the  desperate  revolt  of 
the  Tews.  A.  D.  131-136,  under  Barcochab,  after  which 
the  great  dispersion  of  the  nation  took  place,  and  the  city 
of  Jerusalem  was  rebuilt  as  a  Roman  military  colony  under 
the  name  of  ^Elia  Capitolina.  Hadrian  did  much  for  the 
administration  of  justice  and  for  the  science  of  jurispru- 
dence, in  which  the  Romans  were  so  great  and  so  beneficial 
to  future  ages.  A  fixed  code  of  laws,  called  the  Edictum 
Perpetuum,  "Permanent  Decree,"  founded  on  the  decis- 
ions and  rules  of  the  judges,  was  drawn  up  by  the  eminent 
jurist  Salvius  Julianus,  and  promulgated  by  the  Emperor. 

The  last  two  of  the  "good  Emperors"  have  given  a 
name  to  the  period  called  "the  age  of  the  Antonines,"  in 
some  respects  the  happiest  time  during  the  whole  duration 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Antoninus  Pius,  A.  D.  138-161, 
was  one  of  the  best  Princes,  as  a  ruler  and  as  a  man,  that 
ever  governed  a  State.  His  life  was  perfectly  pure,  and 
all  his  powers  were  devoted  to  promoting  the  happiness  of 
his  subjects.  Order  and  tranquillity  reigned  in  his  days. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  surnamed  "the  Philosopher,"  and 
also  called  Antoninus,  after  his  adoption  by  the  preceding 
Emperor,  reigned  from  A.  D.  161  to  180.  He  was  a  man 
of  spotless  virtue,  devoted  to  literature  and  philosophy, 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  273 

and  was  the  best  product  of  Stoicism,  to  which  he  was  a 
lifelong  adherent.  His  "Meditations,"  written  in  the 
Greek  tongue,  is  an  extant  work,  registering  his  ideas  and 
feelings  on  moral  and  religious  points,  and  giving  us  the 
philosophy  of  heathenism  in  its  noblest  form.  It  was  a 
little  before  this  time  that  the  great  Stoic  teacher  Epictetus 
had  put  new  life  into  that  form  of  philosophy  which  he 
professed,  as  made  known  to  us  in  the  writings  of  his  pupil 
Arrian,  who  was  to  him  what  Xenophon  was  to  Socrates. 
In  the  reign  of  Aurelius  the  barbarian  nations  on  the  north- 
ern frontier  of  the  Roman  Empire  began  to  be  restless, 
and  gave  great  trouble  during  most  of  his  time.  The 
Marcomannic  War  takes  its  name  from  the  powerful  peo- 
ple (Marcomanni,  i.  e.,  men  of  the  march  or  border)  in 
the  territory  now  known  as  Bohemia  and  Bavaria.  Along 
with  other  German  tribes  they  fought  the  Romans  with 
varying  success,  and  Aurelius  died  in  March,  A.  D.  180, 
in  the  midst  of  the  struggle. 

The  Slavonic  tribes  of  the  Northeast  began  to  drive  the 
Germans  into  Roman  territory,  where  many  of  them  were 
allowed  to  settle,  or  were  taken  into  the  Roman  military 
service.  The  barbarizing  of  the  Roman  world  had  thus 
begun.  In  the  time  of  Aurelius  the  Oriental  plague 
appeared,  A.  D.  166,  and  scourged  the  Roman  world  from 
Persia  to  Gaul.  A  majority  of  the  people  is  said  to  have 
been  carried  off,  and  this  visitation  was  followed  during 
the  next  century  by  many  others  of  the  same  kind. 

The  old  beliefs  of  Rome  were  now  in  a  declining  state; 
the  old  ideas  were  growing  constantly  more  obsolete ;  the 
old  sacrifices  were  attended  with  constantly  less  devotion. 
The  populace  cared  for  nothing  but  to  be  fed  by  the  fleets 
of  corn-ships  from  Africa  and  Egypt,  and  to  be  amused 
with  the  cruel  spectacles  of  the  amphitheaters.  The  Greek 

author  Lucian,  born  in  Syria  early  in  the  Second  Century, 
Voi,.  i  — 18 


-574      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

wrote  under  Aurelius,  and  in  his  amusing  ''Dialogues  of 
the  Gods"  and  other  works  pours  contempt  on  the  old 
theology,  and  aims  at  spreading  universal  scepticism. 
The  attitude  of  the  noble-minded  Stoic,  Aurelius  himself, 
toward  the  ancient  creed  was  that  of  entire  disbelief  in  the 
heathen  gods,  while  in  his  life  and  writings  he  cherished 
and  practiced  a  piety  worthy  of  a  far  different  age.  The 
most  cultivated  men  of  the  time  believed  in  the  ancient 
gods  as  little  as  Aurelius  himself  did. 

The  last  "good  Emperor,"  Marcus  Aurelius,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Commodus,  A.  D.  180-192.  This  man 
was  a  cruel  and  depraved  wretch,  a  mere  disgrace  to 
human  nature.  In  his  time  the  Praetorian  Guards  assumed 
the  full  ascendency  which  they  so  long  maintained.  Com- 
modus was  poisoned  by  his  favorite  mistress,  Martia,  in 
192,  and  by  her  act  the  history  of  Rome  passed  into  a  new 
phase. 

An  age  of  revolution  now  began,  during  which  the 
imperial  system  was  struggling  for  its  life,  and  underwent 
a  transformation  which  had  important  effects  on  its  vital- 
ity for  the  rest  of  its  career.  The  history  of  Europe  pre- 
sents no  more  disastrous  time  than  this  Third  Century 
of  the  Empire  of  Rome.  We  have  a  succession  of  tyran- 
nies, revolutions,  and  calamities,  all  of  the  worst  kind — 
including  the  ravages  of  pestilence  and  the  mischiefs 
wrought  by  a  mutinous,  omnipotent,  and  half-barbaric 
soldiery.  Mention  need  only  be  made  of  a  few  of  the 
more  important  persons  and  events. 

Septimius  Severus,  191-211,  gained  victories  over  the 
Parthians  in  the  East,  and,  having  visited  Britain  in  208, 
fought  against  the  Caledonians,  and  died  at  Eboracum 
(York). 

Caracalla,  211-217,  son  °f  Severus,  was  a  savage 
tyrant,  in  whose  reign  the  old  political  distinction  between 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  275 

Romans  and  provincials  wholly  disappeared.  All  the 
free  inhabitants  of  the  Roman  Empire  were  henceforth 
Roman  citizens,  and  many  of  the  best  Emperors  hereafter 
sprang  from  nations  previously  regarded  as  "barbarian." 
Caracalla  was  murdered  by  his  successor,  Opilius  (217), 
who,  beheaded  in  a  mutiny,  was  succeeded  by 
Heliogabalus.  The  latter  is  notorious  as  one  of  the 
most  debauched  men  who  ever  lived,  and  he  was  put  to 
death  for  his  enormities. 

Alexander  Severus,  222-235,  was  a  Jus*>  wise,  and 
virtuous  ruler.  The  only  important  event  during  his 
reign  is  the  disappearance  of  the  Parthian  Kingdom  from 
history.  A  revolt  of  the  Persians  established  the  Persian 
Kingdom  of  the  dynasty  called  the  Sassanidae,  which 
reigned  until  A.  D.  651. 

Maximinus,  235-238,  was  of  Gothic  parentage  on  his 
father's  side,  and  had  a  German  woman  for  his  mother. 
At  various  times  there  were  several  so-called  Emperors 
ruling  at  once  in  different  parts  of  the  Empire,  sometimes 
acknowledged  as  colleagues  by  others,  sometimes  rival 
claimants  for  the  supreme  sway.  The  different  armies, 
in  all  these  cases,  were  the  authorities  appointing  the  ruler. 

In  the  reign  of  Decius,  A.  D.  249-251,  the  Goths 
appeared  in  force,  and  defeated  and  slew  the  Emperor. 
This  powerful  German  people,  destined  to  do  much  here- 
after in  overthrowing  the  Empire  of  Rome,  had  migrated 
from  the  Baltic  coasts  to  those  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  over- 
run a  large  part  of  the  Roman  province  of  Dacia. 

Under  Valerian,  A.  D.  253-260,  the  Roman  frontier 
was  broken  into  at  several  points.  The  Franks  (a  con- 
federacy of  German  tribes  on  the  Lower  Rhine,  replacing 
the  league  of  the  Cherusci  of  the  time  of  Arminius), 
invaded  Gaul;  the  Alemanni  (another  German  confed- 
eracy of  peoples  between  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine)  were 


276     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

moving  south  and  west;  the  Goths  attacked  Greece  and 
Asia  Minor.  The  Persians  invaded  Syria,  and  Valerian's 
reign  ended  in  his  defeat  and  capture  by  the  Persian  King, 
Sapor,  who  skinned  the  Emperor  alive.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  Roman  Empire  would  be  broken  up  by  outward  force; 
but  the  end  was  not  yet  to  be. 

A  change  came  with  the  brilliant  deeds  of  the  brave 
Emperor  Aurelian,  270275,  a  Pannonian  of  low  birth. 
He  drove  the  Goths  and  Vandals  (another  German  con- 
federacy of  tribes)  out  of  Pannonia  (Modern  Hungary 
and  countries  northeast  of  the  Adriatic) ;  he  drove  the 
Alemanni  and  other  German  invaders  out  of  Italy;  he 
recovered  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain  from  a  rival  claimant 
to  the  Empire.  In  order  to  secure  the  frontier  on  the 
Danube,  Aurelian  wisely  surrendered  Dacia  to  the  Goths. 
In  the  East  he  defeated  and  brought  captive  to  Rome  the 
famous  Zenobia,  Queen  of  Palmyra,  who  was  aiming  at 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Eastern  world.  She  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  power  of  her  husband,  Odenathus,  who  had 
driven  the  Persians  out  of  Syria  after  the  defeat  of  Val- 
erian, and  had  been  allowed  by  the  Emperor  Gallienus, 
A.  D.  260-268,  to  set  up  a  "Kingdom  of  Palmyra."  At 
Zenobia's  court  lived  the  famous  Greek  philosopher  and 
grammarian  Longinus,  a  man  of  great  ability  and  exten- 
sive learning,  still  widely  known  by  his  admirable  work 
"On  the  Sublime."  There  were  at  this  time  thirty  gen- 
erals who  claimed  the  title  of  Emperor. 

The  Emperor  Probus,  276-282,  also  a  native  of  Pan- 
nonia, did  much  glorious  work  in  restoring  the  military 
supremacy  of  Rome.  He  put  down  rebellions,  defeated 
the  barbarians  on  the  Danubian  and  Rhenish  frontiers,  and 
was  at  last  killed  by  mutinous  and  dissolute  troops,  who 
objected  to  the  useful  labor  imposed  upon  them  in  the 
public  works. 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  277 

The  revolutionary  period  ended  in  the  establishment 
of  a  new  system  of  government,  consisting  in  a  division 
of  the  Empire,  for  administrative  purposes,  into  four  parts. 
This  important  change  was  made  by  Diocletian,  a  Dalma- 
tian of  low  rank,  established  as  Emperor  by  the  troops  in 
A.  D.  284.  The  adjustment  which  he  made  in  the  rela- 
tions between  the  Emperor  and  the  Viceroys  and  the  army 
saved  the  Empire  from  partition.  Power  in  the  purely 
military  state  which  the  Roman  Empire  had  now  become, 
was  divided  amongst  four  rulers.  There  was  a  co-Em- 
peror name  Maximian,  and  in  292  a  ruler,  with  the  title 
of  "Caesar,"  was  appointed  under  each  of  the  Emperors. 
The  city  of  Rome  lost  its  importance,  as  the  four  rulers 
resided  mainly  on  the  frontiers  for  purposes  of  defense 
against  barbarian  foes.  Under  this  new  arrangement,  if 
one  of  the  Emperors  died  he  was  to  be  succeeded  by  his 
subordinate  "Caesar,"  so  as  to  deprive  the  army  of  the 
appointment  of  rulers.  The  Empire  was  now  ruled  from 
four  centers — Nicomedia,  in  Bithynia  (Asia  Minor) ; 
Milan,  in  Italy;  Antioch,  in  Syria;  and  Treves,  or  Trier, 
on  the  Moselle,  in  Gallia  Belgica.  After  Diocletian,  a  firm 
and  wise  ruler,  this  arrangement  did  not  work;  but  it 
paved  the  way  for  other  improvements  made  by  Constan- 
tine. 

At  the  end  of  the  Third  Century,  by  A.  D.  300,  great 
changes  had  passed  over  the  Roman  Empire.  In  popula- 
tion the  Empire  had  become,  to  a  large  extent,  barbarized; 
the  armies  contained  great  numbers  of  Goths,  Vandals,  and 
Sarmatians,  a  people  in  territory  now  the  west  and  south 
of  Russia.  The  Goths  and  Vandals  were  Germans,  and 
Germans  were  the  nationality  that  was  spread  through  the 
Empire  more  than  any  other.  The  former  distinction  .as 
to  Roman  citizenship  had  been  lost,  and  that  between  the 


278      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

"Roman  legions"  and  the  "allies"  effaced,  and  the  last  visi- 
ble record  of  Rome's  conquest  was  obliterated. 

The  political  system  of  the  Roman  Empire  had  become 
half  Oriental  and  half  barbaric;  and  the  great  city  of  Rome 
itself,  whence  men  had  issued  in  olden  time  for  the  con- 
quest of  the  world,  had  become  a  provincial  town  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber.  The  Roman  Senate,  as  a  political 
body,  as  an  organ  of  public  opinion,  practically  disappears, 
and  the  Emperor  becomes  virtually  a  Sultan,  ruling  with 
thoroughly  despotic  power  in  the  stately  splendor  of  an 
Eastern  Monarch.  Human  free-will  vanishes  away,  and 
sovereignty  becomes  a  thing  regarded  with  awful  rever- 
ence, a  species  of  divinity,  to  which  the  subject  yields,  not 
only  without  resistance,  but  without  a  thought  of  opposi- 
tion to  irresistible  decrees.  Eastern  cruelty  and  disregard 
of  human  life  become  manifest,  and  the  Emperor's  right 
of  naming  his  successor  had  ruinous  effects  when  that  suc- 
cessor proved  weak  and  incompetent  for  the  vast  burden 
of  government  laid  upon  his  shoulders.  From  this  prin- 
ciple of  quasi-hereditary  sovereignty,  succeeded  by  the  actu- 
ally hereditary  development,  Europe  was  to  suffer  at  inter- 
vals, until  the  French  Revolution  taught  the  Continental 
world  that  Kings  exist  for  Nations,  and  not  Nations  for 
Kings.  In  the  later  Roman  Empire  the  evils  of  this  state 
of  political  superstition  and  degradation,  in  which  the  sub- 
jects had  no  rights  and  the  sovereign  no  responsibility, 
were  often  mitigated  by  the  accession  of  really  able  and 
vigorous  rulers.  An  enormous  army  of  civil  and  military 
officials  was  spread  over  the  Empire  for  administrative 
purposes,  and  extravagant  expense  led  to  oppressive  taxa- 
tion, which  ruined  the  people,  and  contributed  to  the  down- 
fall of  the  whole  system  before  the  encroachments  and 
assaults  of  barbarian  nations.  "Rome,  the  representative 
of  European  civilization,  the  inventor  of  civilized  juris- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  279 

prudence,  and  the  inheritor  of  Greek  philosophy, 
descends  to  the  level  of  an  Asiatic  state." 

The  beneficent  encroachments  of  Christianity  were 
now  to  cause  a  change  in  men's  minds,  an  uprising  and 
growth  of  new  ideas,  a  vehemence  of  opinions,  a  con- 
flict of  beliefs,  and  an  outburst  of  enthusiasms,  which 
revolutionized  the  spiritual  world  at  the  very  time  when 
mankind  was  politically  dead.  The  Church  had  arisen 
within  the  State,  and  within  this  citadel,  generally  undis- 
turbed by  the  political  despotism,  civilization  took  ref- 
uge, and  a  large  share  of  a  new  freedom  for  mankind 
was  secured.  An  age  of  faith  had  come,  and  men  were 
busied  about  the  acceptance  of  new  beliefs  or  the  revival 
of  old  ones,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  awakened 
souls. 

Jesus  Christ  was  crucified  in  the  nineteenth  year  of 
the  reign  of  Tiberius,  A.  D.  33.  At  Antioch,  in  Syria, 
where  Paul  and  Barnabas  taught  the  faith,  the  disciples 
were  first,  as  a  term  of  reproach,  called  "Christians." 
St.  Paul,  in  his  journeys,  carried  the  new  religion 
through  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  and  then  to  Rome, 
where  he  died  in  the  reign  of  Nero.  The  Christian  reli- 
gion was  thus  silently  but  surely  spread,  first  among  the 
Jews,  then  among  the  Greeks,  or  Eastern,  and  lastly 
among  the  Latin,  or  Western  heathen.  Nero  was  the 
first  Roman  Emperor  who  openly  persecuted  the  Chris- 
tians, with  whom  the  Jews  were  at  first  frequently  con- 
founded. The  reason  why  even  good  Emperors  like 
Trajan  and  Aurelius  harassed  the  Christians  was  that 
the  religion  of  Rome  was  a  part  of  the  State  system, 
and  the  denial  of  the  Roman  gods  by  the  Christians  was 
regarded  as  political  hostility  and  disloyalty.  The  Chris- 
tians were  a  sect,  and  not  a  nation ;  and  the  Roman  gov- 
ernment, which  tolerated  all  national  faiths,  looked  with 


280      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

suspicion  on  the  votaries  of  a  creed  which  had  a  new  and 
unknown  God,  and  taught  that  all  other  deities  were 
non-existent  or  else  powers  of  evil. 

Severe  persecutions  also  occurred  during  the  reigns 
of  Decius  and  Valerian,  and  the  struggle  between  the 
old  faiths  and  the  new  culminated  in  the  decree  of 
Diocletian  (A.  D.  303),  ordering  the  destruction  of  all 
Christian  places  of  worship  and  of  all  the  holy  books, 
and  the  removal  of  all  Christians  from  official  posts  of 
dignity  and  power.  For  eight  years  a  cruel  persecution 
raged  throughout  the  Empire,  except  in  Britain,  Gaul, 
and  Spain,  but  it  ended  in  permission  being  given 
(A.  D.  311)  for  the  Christians  to  worship  God  as  they 
pleased.  Henceforward  Christianity  was  safe  from  ex- 
ternal foes. 

Diocletian's  resignation  of  his  power  in  A.  D.  305 
was  followed  by  a  period  of  confusion  and  civil  war, 
which  ended  in  the  establishment  of  Constantine  as  sole 
Emperor  in  A.  D.  323.  He  was  son  of  one  of  the  co- 
Emperors  and  of  a  Christian  woman  named  Helena. 
Constantine  made  an  important  change  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Empire  by  dividing  the  military  power  from 
the  civil  authority.  The  influence  of  the  Legati  of  pro- 
vincial viceroys  was  thus  reduced,  and  the  Emperor  alone 
had  both  civil  and  military  power  in  his  hands,  a  fact 
which  gave  him  a  great  predominance. 

In  A.  D.  324  Christianity  was  established  by  Con- 
stantine as  the  religion  of  the  State,  and  in  330  he  made 
Byzantium  the  capital  of  the  Empire.  This  town,  on  the 
Thracian  Bosporus,  founded  by  Greek  colonists  in  B.  C. 
658,  had  early  become  a  great  commercial  center.  After 
being  held  successively  by  the  Athenians,  Lacedaemon- 
ians, and  Macedonians,  it  came  into  Roman  possession, 
and  the  new  city  now  built  there,  or  the  enlarged  and 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  281 

reconstructed  Byzantium,  was  afterward  called  Con- 
stantinopolis  ("City  of  Constantine,"  from  Greek  polis, 
city),  and  remained  the  capital  of  the  Eastern  Empire 
of  Rome  till  A.  D.  1453. 

In  religion,  Constantine  seems  to  have  been  a 
strange  compound  of  Paganism  and  Christianity.  He 
was  an  able  general  and  statesman,  whose  real  character 
has  been  obscured  by  historical  excesses,  both  of  pan- 
egyric and  of  detraction,  and  around  whose  name,  in 
connection  with  Christianity,  ridiculous  fables  have 
gathered.  Constantine  embraced  the  new  religion  be- 
cause he  thought  it  expedient  for  his  own  interest  so  to 
do,  and  not  from  any  miraculous  apparition  or  divine 
command.  He  died  in  337,  leaving  the  Empire  to  con- 
fusion and  civil  war  under  his  sons. 

Apart  from  its  effects  upon  the  morals,  the  new 
religion  greatly  and  beneficially  stirred  the  mind  of  the 
age.  Political  speculation  and  discussion  were  impos- 
sible under  a  despotism,  and  active  minds  turned  to 
theology,  and  soon  showed  that  the  intellectual  power 
of  the  time  was  to  be  found  within  the  ranks  of  Chris- 
tianity. Amongst  these  early  writers  and  rulers  of  the 
Church  known  as  the  "Christian  Fathers"  the  following 
are  the  chief:  Tertullian,  Ambrose,  Cyprian,  Lactan- 
tius,  Jerome  and  Augustine,  being  Latin  Fathers; 
Origen,  Gregory,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  Athanasius,  being 
Greek  Fathers. 

Julian,  surnamed  the  Apostate,  or  deserter  from  the 
faith,  was  Emperor  from  A.  D.  360  to  363.  He  was  a 
descendant  of  Constantine,  and  a  man  of  great  abilities 
and  attainments,  distinguished  at  Athens  in  the  study 
of  Greek  literature  and  philosophy.  He  fought  with 
great  success,  before  he  became  Emperor,  against  the 
Franks  and  the  Alemanni,  German  Confederacies  who 


282      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

had  invaded  Gaul.  Brought  up  as  a  Christian,  he  de- 
clared himself  a  Pagan  when  he  was  made  Emperor  by 
the  troops  in  360,  and  did  what  he  could  to  root  out 
Christianity.  In  363  he  invaded  Persia,  but  was  com- 
pelled to  retreat  by  the  climate  and  want  of  supplies, 
and  being  then  attacked  by  the  Persians,  was  killed  in 
one  of  the  battles  that  covered  the  Roman  army's  retire- 
ment beyond  the  Euphrates.  Julian  was  a  man  of  ex- 
traordinary character:  virtuous  in  life;  energetic,  just, 
and  wise  in  administration;  a  diligent  and  thoughtful 
writer,  who  has  left,  in  a  pure  Greek  style,  letters,  ora- 
tions, and  satirical  works  of  considerable  interest  and 
humor.  Christianity  was  restored  by  Jovian,  his  succes- 
sor. 

Under  the  joint  Emperors  Valentinian  I  and  Valens 
(364-375)  the  wars  with  the  German  barbarians  contin- 
ued. Valentinian  was  an  able  and  vigorous  ruler  and  gen- 
eral, and  drove  the  Alemanni  out  of  Gaul,  which  they  had 
again  invaded. 

The  Goths  become  at  this  time  very  prominent  in 
the  history  of  the  decaying  Empire  of  Rome.  Of  this 
great  nation  there  were  two  divisions,  the  Ostrogoths, 
or  Eastern  Goths,  and  the  Visigoths,  or  Western  Goths. 
The  nation  as  a  whole  extended  through  central  Europe 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea.  In  the  latter  half  of 
this  Century  there  was  a  compact  and  powerful  Gothic 
Kingdom,  under  a  ruler  named  Hermanaric,  extending 
over  what  is  now  Hungary  and  Poland.  The  Goths  had 
to  some  extent  become  Christians  through  the  teaching 
of  their  devoted  countryman,  Bishop  Wulfilas,  or 
Ulphilas,  who  appears  to  have  also  invented  an  alphabet 
for  them,  based  upon  the  Greek  alphabet. 

A  most  formidable  Asiatic  race  had  already  made  its 
appearance  in  Europe,  moving  westward  from  the  Cas- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  283 

pian  and  the  Ural  Mountains  with  irresistible  ferocity 
and  strength.  They  were  Tartars,  originally  coming 
from  the  northeast  of  Asia,  where  they  had  made  inroads 
upon  China.  About  A.  D.  374  these  Huns  crossed  the 
Volga  and  the  Don,  and  fell  upon  the  Gothic  Kingdom. 
The  Ostogoths  partly  submitted  and  partly  sought  a 
refuge  among  the  Visigoths. 

By  permission  of  Valens  (Emperor  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Empire,  A.  D.  364-378),  large  numbers  of 
Goths  were  allowed  to  settle  south  of  the  Danube.  The 
newcomers  soon  attacked  the  Romans,  and  Valens 
was  defeated  and  killed  in  a  great  battle  near  Adrianople 
in  378.  This  great  settlement  of  Goths  to  the  south 
of  the  Danube  was  a  considerable  step  toward  the 
breaking  up  of  the  Roman  Empire.  They  spread  them- 
selves westward  to  the  Adriatic  Sea  and  the  borders 
of  Italy,  and,  entering  the  Roman  army  and  acquiring 
Roman  civilization,  became  prepared  to  play  their  des- 
tined part  in  the  coming  change. 

Theodosius,  who  reigned  over  the  whole  Empire 
only  from  392  to  395,  being  previously  Emperor  of  the 
eastern  division,  restored  matters  for  a  time.  He  put 
down  in  battle  the  Goths  who  had  entered  the  Empire, 
and  made  peace  with  them  in  382.  The  rising  power  of 
the  Christian  Church  was  shown  in  the  treatment  of 
this  Emperor  by  St.  Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan.  Theo- 
dosius, in  390,  had  caused  a  cruel  massacre  of  the  people 
of  Thessalonica,  in  Macedonia,  in  punishment  for  a  riot- 
ous outbreak,  and  St.  Ambrose  induced  him  humbly  and 
publicly  to  acknowledge  his  guilt.  The  formal  end  of 
Paganism  took  place  at  this  time,  in  the  decrees  of  Theo- 
dosius which  prohibited,  under  severe  penalties,  the  wor- 
ship of  the  old  heathen  gods.  He  was  the  last  Emperor 
who  ruled  over  the  whole  undivided  Empire, 


DIVISION    OF   THE    EMPIRE 

The  Empire  was  now  (A.  D.  395)  divided  between 
the  two  sons  of  Theodosius,  but  its  main  defender 
against  the  barbarians  was  the  brave  and  able  Stilicho, 
a  Vandal  by  birth,  who  was  the  real  ruler  of  the  Western 
Empire,  comprising  Italy,  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Brit- 
ain. The  Eastern  Empire  has  henceforth  a  career  of 
its  own,  to  be  noticed  hereafter,  and  we  pursue  the  his- 
tory of  the  Western  down  to  the  time  of  its  extinction. 
Stilicho  maintained  the  northern  frontier  of  Britain 
against  the  Picts  and  Scots,  and  the  Rhine  frontier 
of  Gaul  against  the  German  tribes  called  Suevi  and 
Alemanni. 

A  formidable  enemy  now  appears  on  the  scene, 
Alaric,  King  of  the  Visigoths.  Under  him  the  Goths 
settled  within  the  Danube  had  already  overrun  Mace- 
donia and  Greece,  and  in  A.  D.  402  Alaric  attacked 
Italy  in  great  force.  Stilicho  hurried  to  the  rescue,  and 
drove  out  the  Visigoths,  gaining  decisive  victories  in 
two  desperate  battles  (403).  After  his  general's  success 
Honorius,  the  Emperor,  celebrated  at  Rome  the  last 
triumph  ever  seen  there,  the  event  being  sung  in  stirring 
verse  by  Claudian,  the  last  of  the  Latin  classic  poets,  a 
writer  of  pure  style  and  real  genius. 

In  A.  D.  405  a  leader  named  Radagaisus  invaded 
Italy  with  a  vast  host  of  barbarians  from  the  interior  of 
Germany — Suevi  and  Alemanni,  Alani  and  Vandals, 
Goths  and  Huns.  At  Faesulae,  near  Florence  (in  406), 
Stilicho  encountered  and  defeated  the  enemy.  Stilicho 

284 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  285 

was  put  to  death  in  408  on  a  charge  of  aspiring  to  the 
Empire. 

In  A.  D.  408  Alaric  came  again  into  Italy,  this  time 
with  an  irresistible  force,  and  after  extorting  an  enor- 
mous ransom  on  condition  of  sparing  Rome,  captured 
the  city  in  410,  and  gave  it  up  to  a  six  days'  plunder  by 
his  warriors,  without  any  cruel  slaughter  of  the  people. 
This  was  exactly  800  years  after  the  taking  of  Rome 
by  the  Gauls  under  Brennus.  Alaric  died  shortly  after- 
ward. 

Early  in  the  Fifth  Century  the  Roman  forces  were 
withdrawn  from  Britain,  which  was  left  open  to  con- 
quest by  the  Angles  and  their  kinsmen  from  northwest 
Germany.  Soon  after  Alaric's  time  the  Visigoths  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  south  of  Gaul  and  the  north 
of  Spain,  while  hordes  of  Suevi  and  Alani,  Vandals  and 
Burgundians,  a  German  nation  akin  to  the  Goths, 
swarmed  over  the  rest  of  both  those  great  provinces. 
In  429  Genseric,  King  of  the  Vandals,  passed  over  from 
Spain  into  Africa,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  whole 
northwest  of  Rome's  dominions  there.  His  fleet  swept 
the  Mediterranean,  conveying  troops  who  conquered 
the  chief  islands,  and  made  descents  on  the  shores  of 
Italy  and  Greece.  The  Western  Empire  was  thus  gradu- 
ally absorbed  and  repeopled  by  swarms  of  new  inhabit- 
ants, many  years  before  its  formal  and  final  extinction  as 
a  political  fact. 

The  reappearance  of  the  savage  and  formidable 
Huns,  under  the  most  famous  of  Barbarian  conquerors, 
Attila,  styled  by  himself  "the  Scourage  of  God,"  as  the 
slayer  and  plunderer  of  mankind  in  his  wide  and  erratic 
course  of  conquest.  When  this  mighty  warrior  turned 
his  arms  against  Gaul,  in  A.  D.  450,  a  crisis  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  had  come,  like  unto  that  which  had 


286      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

been  decided  by  Greece  on  the  plain  of  Marathon  more 
than  nine  hundred  years  before.  The  race  of  Rome 
was  run,  and  the  questions  now  to  be  settled  were  these : 
What  races  of  mankind  should  inherit  the  civilization 
which  she  had  received  from  Greece;  and  what  should 
be  the  fate  of  the  laws,  institutions,  and  Christian  faith 
which  had  grown  up  within  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
had  been  already  accepted  in  part  by  the  Germanic 
nations  that  had  occupied  most  of  her  territories?  Were 
the  Aryan  races  of  Europe  to  be  overcome  and  extin- 
guished by  Tartars  from  Asia?  Was  the  civilization  of 
modern  Europe  to  include  the  great  Teutonic  element 
which  has  given  it  so  much  of  its  peculiar  power  and 
grandeur?  Was  there,  in  a  word,  to  be  at  all  any  such 
modern  Europe  as  we  know?  or,  was  the  worst  barbar- 
ism of  the  northern  and  .uncivilized  part  of  Asia  to  stifle 
classic  culture  on  its  way  to  our  times,  and  crush  the 
Christian  creeds  and  institutions  in  the  vigor  of  their 
youth?  These  questions  were  answered  with  a  glad  and 
glorious  issue  for  mankind  in  the  last  victory  won  by  the 
arms  of  Imperial  Rome. 

The  Germanic  tribes  of  Europe  were  remarkable  for 
two  things — reverence  for  the  purity  of  woman  and  love 
of  personal  and  political  liberty.  From  these  noble  ele- 
ments of  character,  when  they  were  inspired  by  vital 
Christianity,  were  to  issue  the  brightness  of  chivalry, 
and  the  grand  reality  of  freedom  for  the  greatest  races 
of  mankind.  Since  half  Europe,  all  North  America, 
and,  in  the  British  colonies,  many  other  smaller  portions 
of  the  earth  are,  in  the  wide  sense,  German  (or  Teutonic, 
as  including  the  Angles  and  the  Saxons,  and  the  Scandi- 
navian nations)  in  race,  in  institutions,  and  in  language, 
it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  future  history  of  the  world  was 
affected  by  the  issue  of  the  great  conflict  between  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  287 

pagan  Huns  of  Attila  and  the  Christianized  hosts  of 
Aetius  and  Theodoric. 

Attila  was  in  person  a  short,  sinewy,  huge-headed, 
keen-eyed,  flat-nosed,  swarthy  Mongol;  in  character  he 
was  brave,  just,  temperate,  prudent,  and  sagacious;  he 
waged  war  with  great  skill;  he  was  ruthless  to  all  who 
resisted  his  advance.  Between  A.  D.  445  and  450  he 
had  ravaged  the  Eastern  Empire,  between  the  Euxine 
and  the  Adriatic  Seas,  and  had  acquired  a  large  territory 
south  of  the  Danube,  in  addition  to  his  dominions  north 
of  the  Danube  and  the  Euxine.  The  force  which  he 
could  bring  into  the  field  has  been  estimated  at  half  a 
million  of  warriors,  and  in  A.  D.  450  he  set  out  for  the 
conquest  of  Western  Europe,  and  crossed  the  Rhine, 
near  Strasburg,  into  Gaul,  where  he  proceeded  to  attack 
Orleans. 

The  Roman  General  Aetius,  in  conjunction  with 
Theodoric,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  was  the  hero  of  this 
occasion.  On  the  approach  of  their  united  armies 
Attila  retreated  to  the  plains  round  Chalons-sur-Marne, 
which  were  adapted  to  the  movements  of  his  cavalry. 
In  the  battle  which  ensued  (A.  D.  451)  between  the  im- 
mense rival  hosts,  Theodoric  was  killed,  and  Attila's  army 
was  defeated,  though  not  routed,  by  the  efforts  of 
Aetius.  The  great  enterprise  of  Attila  was,  however, 
completely  baffled,  and,  after  an  invasion  of  Italy  which 
took  him  to  the  gates  of  Rome,  he  died  in  453.  The 
Empire  founded  by  his  genius  then  fell  to  pieces,  and 
the  danger  of  Europe's  conquest  by  Huns  had  passed 
away. 

In  A.  D.  455,  Genseric,  the  Vandal  conqueror  in 
Africa,  invaded  Italy,  took  Rome,  and  gave  the  city  up 
to  pillage  for  fourteen  days.  The  Vandals  carried  off 
on  their  ships  most  of  the  metal  statues  of  the  temples 


288     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and  the  Forum,  and  the  precious  trophies  in  the  Capitol 
and  the  Temple  of  Peace,  including  the  Golden  Candle- 
stick from  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  This  sacred  relic 
was  recovered  a  century  afterward  from  Africa,  taken 
to  Constantinople,  and  then  replaced  in  Jerusalem, 
where  it  vanishes  from  history  for  evermore. 

The  Emperors  of  this  last  period  were  insignificant 
personages,  and  in  472  the  Suevian,  Ricimer,  who  had 
served  under  Aetius,  and  had  for  some  time  been  virtual 
master  in  Italy,  took  and  plundered  Rome  again. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  fall  of  Rome's  Empire  in 
the  West  was  that  it  had  proved  unequal  to  repelling  in 
war  the  encroachments  and  inroads  of  the  barbaric 
world  beyond  the  frontier.  But  why  had  Rome's  power 
thus  succumbed  to  outward  pressure  after  so  many  cen- 
turies of  conquest  and  victorious  repulse  or  utter 
destruction  of  Gallic  and  German  assailants  from  the 
north?  Why  did  the  Romans  prove  at  last  inferior  in 
force  to  the  Barbarians?  The  first  answer  is,  that  the 
Barbaric  world  had  grown  stronger  than  of  old.  The 
confederations  of  Germans  in  the  Third  Century  of  the 
Roman  Empire  show  that  the  Barbarians  had  learned 
the  secret  of  strength  in  union.  They  had  also  improved 
in  intelligence  and  military  skill.  They  were,  moreover, 
impelled  in  aggressive  force  against  the  Roman  frontiers 
by  the  irresistible  pressure  wrought  on  themselves  by 
the  newcomers  from  Asia — the  Huns.  The  second  answer 
is,  that  not  only  had  Rome  failed  to  increase  or  to  main- 
tain her  power,  but  that  power  had  positively  and  largely 
declined.  Rome  had  ceased  to  conquer,  and  this  was 
only  because  she  had  reached  the  limit  of  her  resources. 
When  Hadrian  gave  up  the  Parthian  conquests  of 
Trajan,  and  when  Aurelian  abandoned  Dacia — when 
the  boundaries  of  the  Empire  were  thus  deliberately 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  289 

narrowed  by  able  and  energetic  rulers — it  is  certain  that 
Rome  was  becoming  weak  and  exhausted,  and  that  these 
rulers  knew  it,  and  wisely  acted  on  their  knowledge.  It 
was  no  moral  degeneracy,  caused  by  luxury  and  success, 
that  could  account  for  this.  The  Roman  armies  were 
not  affected  by  the  doings  of  a  brutal  and  effeminate 
aristocracy;  the  discipline  was  what  it  had  ever  been; 
the  Generals  were  as  capable  as  most  of  those  who  com- 
manded under  the  Republic.  The  successes  of  Julian 
against  the  Alemanni,  of  Theodosius  against  the  Goths, 
of  Stilicho  against  Alaric,  and  of  Aetius  against  the 
Huns  of  Attila,  prove  that  the  armies  of  Rome  could 
still  fight  and  win.  It  was  from  physical  causes,  not 
moral,  that  Rome  fell. 

The  Empire  perished  for  want  of  men.  The  Roman 
armies  had  become  mainly  composed  of  Barbarian 
troops,  and  thus  the  citadel  of  Rome's  strength  was 
occupied  by  defenders  whose  very  presence  was  a  proof 
that  power  had  passed  into  other  hands.  The  dominion 
of  Rome  was  thus  absorbed  rather  than  conquered;  the 
former  population  of  the  Empire  was  replaced  by  a  new 
set  of  men.  For  lack  of  people  to  till  the  lands  within 
the  frontier  of  Rome,  whole  tribes  of  barbarians  had 
been  peacefully  admitted,  and  Vandals,  Goths,  and 
Franks  had  settled  within  the  borders  in  a  continual 
stream  of  barbaric  immigration.  The  older  races  of 
the  Roman  Empire  had  for  some  centuries  ceased  to 
increase  materially  in  numbers  by  the  natural  means,  and 
in  such  a  case,  while  the  barbarian  world  was  ever  grow- 
ing, the  Roman  population,  if  even  it  remained  posi- 
tively stationary,  was  relatively  in  a  condition  of  rapid 
and  alarming  decay.  The  Roman  civilization  was  simply 
military,  and  not  industrial. 

The  wealth  of  Rome  was  gained  by  war,  and  not  by 
Vox,,  i  — 19 


manufactures  or  by  commerce,  and  thus,  when  conquest 
ceased,  the  acquirement  of  wealth  came  to  an  end,  and 
lack  of  money,  as  of  men,  made  Rome  more  helpless 
still.  The  series  of  visitations  of  disease — the  Oriental 
plague — which  came  upon  the  Roman  world  between 
the  reigns  of  Aurelius  and  Diocletian,  was  a  calamity 
from  which  Rome  never  recovered,  and  existing  and 
ever-growing  weakness  was  made  incurable  by  the  inces- 
sant demands  of  an  oppressive  and  irrational  system  of 
taxation.  Thus,  by  slow  degrees,  from  causes  gradually 
working  with  an  ever-growing  effect,  faded  away  the 
power  of  that  great  Rome  which  had  known  how  to  con- 
quer the  nations,  and  to  acquire  a  vast  Empire  including 
many  races  and  conditions  of  men;  how  to  create  a  cen- 
tralized government  of  great  stability  and  efficiency, 
but  not  how  to  thwart  the  subtle  working  of  physical 
and  financial  maladies  which  were  inherent  in  the  con- 
stitution of  her  whole  system  of  society;  which  were  fed 
by  deeply-seated  moral  mischiefs,  and  were  not  to  be 
remedied  by  any  pagan  philosophy  or  any  statesmanship 
known  to  the  Roman  world. 

The  conquest  by  Rome  of  all  the  countries  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  had  a  great  and  beneficial 
effect  upon  the  commerce  of  the  inland  sea,  round 
which  was  gathered  all  civilization  in  the  later 
period  of  the  ancient  world,  and  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  that  civilization  itself.  When  Pompeius 
Magnus  performed  his  great  achievement  of  sweep- 
ing piracy  away,  the  work  was  one  of  permanent 
benefit,  and  the  power  of  Rome's  consolidated  Empire 
secured  for  ages  the  peaceful  traffic  which  could 
not  fail  to  result  in  material  and  moral  good  to  the  peo- 
ples thus  brought  together.  In  the  West,  especially,  a 
great  growth  of  prosperity  ensued.  The  African  prov- 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  *9* 

inces  supplied  half  the  Mediterranean  world  with  grain. 
The  eastern  coast  of  Spain  sent  forth  from  its  harbors 
corn  and  wool,  and  wine  and  oil,  receiving  in  return  the 
products  of  other  regions.  The  Spanish  cities  in  that 
quarter  were  many  and  populous;  the  arts  and  literature 
were  sedulously  cultivated,  and  some  of  the  leading 
authors  in  Latin  letters  were  of  Spanish  origin  and  train- 
ing. In  Gaul,  the  southern  region  had  already  received 
civilization  from  Greek  settlers,  and  the  Roman  con- 
quest carried  material  and  intellectual  culture  to  the 
center  and  north  of  the  land,  and  across  the  narrow  sea 
to  Britain,  where  Roman  supremacy  secured  for  the  peo- 
ple three  centuries  of  peace  and  prosperity.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  human  happiness  was  largely  increased 
in  these  regions  of  the  world  by  a  dominion  which  put 
an  end  to  intertribal  conflicts,  and  gave  men  the  prime 
blessing  of  orderly  and  systematic  rule. 

But  the  chief  benefits  derived  by  the  world  from 
Rome's  imperial  sway  were  the  spread  of  the  Greek  cul- 
ture and  the  clear  course  made  for  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity. To  Rome's  controlling  power  we  owe  the  pres- 
ervation of  Greek  ideas  in  Greek  literature,  and  the 
transmission  to  our  times  of  some  of  the  greatest  pro- 
ductions of  the  Greek  mind — works  which  Roman 
imitation  took  as  the  highest  models  of  excellence,  and 
which  Roman  admiration  preserved,  by  multiplication 
t)f  copies,  for  the  good  of  future  ages.  As  to  Christian- 
ity, the  spread  of  Greek  philosophy  over  the  world  after 
the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  had  prepared  the 
higher  class  of  men  for  the  reception  of  still  nobler  les- 
sons, and  the  free  intercourse  among  the  nations  which 
Roman  supremacy  secured  carried  the  teachers  and 
preachers  of  the  new  religion  to  many  a  region  which 
must  have  been  otherwise  inaccessible  to  their  efforts 


292     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and  their  devotion.  It  was  thus  that,  long  before  the 
official  establishment  of  the  faith  by  Constantine,  the  sur- 
viving strongholds  of  Paganism  were  steadily  and 
imperceptibly  sapped,  and,  without  formal  assault  or 
vigorous  shock,  crumbled  into  noiseless  and  irreparable 
ruin. 

As  to  art,  the  Romans  were  not  originally  an  art- 
loving  people,  but  used  the  abilities  of  those  whom  they 
had  subdued  by  their  arms.  They  derived  the  use  of 
the  arch  and  the  architecture  of  their  earliest  buildings 
from  the  Etruscans,  and  the  early  statues  in  the  city  of 
Rome,  made  of  terra-cotta  and  of  bronze,  were  also 
Etruscan  work.  The  conquest  of  Macedon  brought 
Grecian  influence  to  bear,  and  at  the  triumph  of  JEmil- 
ius  Paulus  in  B.  C.  167  there  was  a  magnificent  display 
of  costly  armor,  vases,  paintings,  and  statues,  which 
showed  the  people  of  Rome  what  Greece  could  furnish 
in  the  way  of  models  of  artistic  work.  The  "triumphs" 
of  Mummius  over  Greece  and  of  Pompey  over  Mithri- 
dates  brought  to  Rome  numerous  pictures,  statues  in 
marble,  engraved  gems,  pearls,  specimens  of  chased  and 
embossed  plate,  figures  and  vessels  of  Corinthian  brass, 
and  splendid  works  in  gold.  As  wealth  and  luxury 
grew,  the  works  of  statuary,  mosaic,  painting,  and  archi- 
tecture, executed  by  Greek  artists,  became  countless, 
and  many  of  these  are  now  in  the  museums  of  Europe. 
Medals,  coins,  and  cameos  of  fine  execution  were  pro- 
duced under  the  Empire,  the  age  of  Hadrian  and  that  of 
the  Antonines  being  flourishing  times  for  art. 

The  profuse  ornamentation  of  the  triumphal  arches 
and  pillars  in  Rome  has  been  of  great  antiquarian  value 
for  our  knowledge  of  armor,  costume,  and  military  en- 
gines. The  devastations  of  barbarians  in  both  the  west- 
ern and  the  eastern  Empires  caused  irreparable  losses;  the 


HISTORY  OF  ROME  293 

four  bronze  horses  now  at  Venice  are  specimens  of  later 
and  inferior  Greek  art,  saved  from  destruction  wrought 
at  Constantinople  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  The  chief 
collections  of  ancient  sculpture  are  in  the  Vatican  and 
the  Capitol  museums  at  Rome,  the  Museo  Borbonico  at 
Naples,  the  Villa  Borghese  and  the  Villa  Albani  at  Rome, 
the  Gallery  of  Florence,  the  Louvre  in  Paris,  the  British 
Museum  in  London,  several  private  collections  (Woburn 
Abbey  and  Lansdowne  House)  in  England,  and  the 
Sculpture  Gallery  at  Munich.  In  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Courts  of  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham  good  copies 
of  some  of  the  chief  productions  of  Grecian  art  in  its 
principal  periods  may  be  seen. 

The  last  Roman  Emperor  of  the  West  was  a  child, 
called,  as  if  in  derision,  Romulus  Augustulus,  the  one 
name  being  that  of  the  city's  mythical  founder,  the 
other,  "Augustus  the  Little,"  a  parody  of  the  style  of 
him  who  organized  the  Empire.  Augustulus  became 
nominal  ruler  in  A.  D.  475,  and  in  476  was  overthrown 
by  the  invasion  of  some  German  tribes,  of  which  the 
chief  was  called  the  Heruli.  Their  leader,  Odoacer,  took 
the  title  of  "King  of  Italy,"  and  the  Western  Empire 
came  thus  ignobly  to  an  end,  in  the  displacing  of  a  lad 
seven  years  old  by  the  captain  of  a  horde  of  banditti. 


MEDIAEVAL    HISTORY 

The  history  of  the  "Middle  Ages"  embraces  a  period 
of  about  one  thousand  years,  extending  from  the  close 
of  the  Fifth  to  the  end  of  the  Fifteenth  Century  of  the 
Christian  Era.  The  first  half  of  this  period  has  been  some- 
times called  the  "Dark  Ages,"  as  if  the  light  of  ancient 
learning  and  culture  had  been  well-nigh  extinguished  in 
the  occupation  of  the  provinces  of  the  Western  Empire  of 
Rome  by  barbarian  peoples.  This  time  of  the  world's 
history,  however,  is  more  correctly  regarded  as  a  time  in 
which  the  creation  of  a  fresh  state  of  society  and  of  civ- 
ilization was  effected  in  the  blending  of  the  new  with  the 
old,  in  the  adoption  both  of  Christianity  and  of  the  olden 
institutions  by  the  new  races,  mainly  of  German  nation- 
ality, who  appear  upon  the  scene.  The  development  of 
the  German  world  begins,  kindled  by  a  foreign  culture, 
a  foreign  religion,  polity,  and  legislation.  These  new 
elements  were  taken  up  by  the  Teutonic  tribes,  and 
amalgamated  with  their  own  national  life.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  had  already  received  from  the  Councils  and 
Fathers  of  the  church  a  perfected  system  of  doctrine  and 
government;  the  rulers  of  the  church,  moreover,  pos- 
sessed the  culture  and  the  philosophy  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  world,  and  the  Latin  tongue,  in  its  perfectly 
developed  form,  continued  for  ages  to  be  the  language 
of  literature  and  men  of  learning.  The  new  system  of 
things  was,  in  this  sense,  merely  a  continuation  of  the 
old;  but  there  lived  in  it  an  entirely  new  spirit,  through 
which  the  world  was  to  be  politically  and  socially  regen- 
erated— the  spirit  of  freedom,  which  was  ultimately  tp 


ilEDLEVAL  HISTORY  295 

reconcile  the  antagonistic  principles  of  Church  and  State, 
and  regulate  the  political  life  of  nations  by  reason,  after 
the  church  had  failed  in  her  attempt  to  maintain  herself 
as  a  theocracy,  and  the  State  had  passed  through  the 
form  of  feudal  to  that  of  constitutional  monarchy. 

A  brief  summary  of  what  is  included  in  these  thou- 
sand years  of  history  will  show  an  abundance  of  stirring 
and  interesting  matter,  which  should  fully  rid  the  period 
of  the  character  for  dullness  with  which  it  has  sometimes 
been  invested.  The  close  of  the  Fifth  Century  shows 
us  the  beginnings  of  England  in  the  first  lodgment 
effected  by  the  Angles  and  Saxons  on  the  shores  of  this 
island.  In  the  Sixth  the  Latin  tongue  begins  to  turn 
into  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  the  Benedictine 
monks  found  the  first  monasteries.  The  Seventh  sees 
the  wondrous  career  of  Mahomet,  and  the  beginnings 
of  Saracen  conquest.  In  the  Eighth,  Europe  is  saved 
for  Christianity  by  Charles  Martel's  defeat  of  the  Sara- 
cens at  Tours,  and  the  great  Slavonic  race  (a  burning 
question  in  modern  diplomacy,  as  it  deals  with  Russia 
and  Bulgaria)  begins  to  be  felt  in  Eastern  Europe.  The 
Ninth  brings  the  feudal  system  and  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Popes.  In  the  Tenth  Saxon  supremacy  in  Eng- 
land is  firmly  established  and  feudality  begins.  In  the 
Eleventh  the  German  Empire  is  the  great  political  fact, 
side  by  side  with  Papal  supremacy,  asserted  by  Gregory 
VII,  and  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Turks,  which 
results  in  the  Crusades.  In  the  Twelfth,  under  full- 
grown  feudalism,  we  have  the  age  of  chivalry,  the 
great  Italian  republics,  and  the  beginning  of  power  for 
France  under  Philip  Augustus.  The  Thirteenth  has  the 
rise  of  modern  towns  and  the  germ  of  political  freedom 
in  municipal  institutions.  Trade,  manufactures,  bank- 
Ing,  begin  to  assert  their  importance,  Men  dare  tp 


296      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

doubt  the  dogmas  of  the  Church,  and  the  Inquisition 
meets  "heresy"  by  organized  torture  and  murder.  The 
Papal  power  is  at  its  height,  and  the  Christians  of  Spain 
have  at  last  loosened  fairly  the  grip  of  the  Saracens.  In 
the  fourteenth,  intellectual  light  is  growing,  and  Eng- 
land, France,  Italy,  Germany,  have  the  rise  of  a  native 
literature.  The  compass  makes  maritime  discovery  pos- 
sible, and  the  use  of  gunpowder  changes  the  character 
of  warfare.  A  Swiss  Republic  exists.  Feudal  barons 
decay  as  monarchs  rise  to  power.  The  Fifteenth  Cen- 
tury brings  the  crisis  to  which  the  work  of  a  thousand 
years  has  been  leading  mankind,  and  the  new  world  of 
geography  coincides  with  a  new  world  of  mental  and 
social  life  due  to  the  invention  of  printing,  the  revival  of 
classical  learning,  the  growth  of  free  thought,  the  rise 
of  a  middle  class,  and  the  establishment  of  law  and  order. 

The  Aryan  migration  into  Europe  from  Asia  has 
been  dealt  with  in  the  first  part  of  this  work.  The 
ancient  history  of  Europe  has  been  concerned  with  the 
Italic  (Latin)  and  Hellenic  races  as  the  ruling  and  con- 
quering powers  of  the  civilized  world.  The  modern  his- 
tory of  Europe  has  to  do  partly  with  races  of  mixed  des- 
cent arising  from  the  union  of  these  old  historic  peo- 
ples with  barbarian  tribes,  but  mainly  with  the  other 
great  races  of  the  Aryan  stock — the  Celts,  the  Teutons, 
and  the  Slavs  or  Slavonians. 

At  the  present  day  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of 
Europe  belong  to  the  Aryan  stock;  the  other  tenth,  con- 
sisting of  the  Turks,  the  Magyars  (in  Hungary),  the 
Finns,  and  the  Laplanders,  is  Mongolian  in  race,  akin, 
(though  now  very  different  in  character  and  appearance) 
to  the  Chinese,  Burmese,  Siamese,  and  other  peoples  in 
the  southeast  of  the  mainland  of  Asia. 

Jn  e.a.rly  historical  times  the  Cejts  Inhabited  the 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY  297 

ish  Isles,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  the  north  of  Italy;  the  Teu- 
tons occupied  the  territory  known  as  Sweden,  Norway, 
Denmark,  and  central  Germany;  an  Aryan  people  called 
Lithuanians  had  settled  on  the  southern  coast  of  the 
Baltic;  the  Slavonians  were  to  be  found  in  the  great 
Eastern  plain,  forming  the  modern  Empire  of  European 
Russia. 

Of  the  three  great  Aryan  races — Celts,  Teutons,  and 
Slavonians — the  Romans  came  into  close  contact  with 
two  only — the  Celts  and  the  Teutons.  The  Celts  of 
Britain,  Gaul,  and  Spain  were  conquered  by  Rome,  and 
those  of  Gaul  and  Spain  especially  took  up  the  Latin 
language  and  civilization,  receiving  the  Roman  citizen- 
ship, and  being  converted  to  Christianity  before  the  end 
of  the  Western  Empire. 

The  terms  Teutonic,  Gothic,  and  Germanic  are  all 
used  to  designate  the  great  race  of  men  that  had  occu- 
pied central  and  northern  Europe,  and  was  destined  to 
work  so  powerfully  in  the  development  of  the  modern 
civilization.  The  chief  tribes  of  this  great  race  were 
the  Goths  (divided  into  the  Visigoths  and  the  Ostro- 
goths), the  Vandals,  the  Franks  (i.  e.,  the  "Free  men,"  a 
confederacy  of  tribes  on  the  Lower  Rhine),  the  Burgundi- 
ans,  the  Lombards  (in  Latin,  Langobardi  or  Longo- 
bardi,  originally  from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe,  then  found 
north  of  the  Danube  in  the  Fifth  Century,  A.  D.),  the 
Angles,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Scandinavians  or  Norse- 
men. 

The  Vandals  invaded  Spain  (where  their  name  sur- 
vives in  the  name  of  the  district  Andalusia),  and  passed 
over  into  Africa,  where  they  founded  a  powerful  king-, 
dom.  The  Ostrogoths,  under  their  King  Theodoric  the 
Great,  overcame  Odoacer  in  Italy,  and  Theodoric  ruled, 
theje  a.s  h^a<J  of  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  realrn  from, 


298      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

A.  D.  493  to  526.  The  Roman  laws  and  institutions 
were  maintained,  and  the  age  was  distinguished  by  the 
learning  and  statesmanship  of  Cassiodorus,  and  of  the 
famous  Boethius,  who  was  great  in  Greek  philosophy, 
and  wrote  (during  his  imprisonment  by  Theodoric  for 
opposing  certain  oppressive  measures),  the  well-known 
work,  De  Consolatione  Philosophise  ("On  the  comfort 
of  philosophy").  This  book  is  pure  in  style  and  of  a 
high  tone  of  thought;  its  author  was  the  last  of  the  west- 
ern Romans  to  study  deeply  the  literature  and  language 
of  Greece,  from  which  he  translated  many  works  of  Aris- 
totle and  other  philosophers.  The  Visigoths  had 
founded  a  kingdom  which  included  what  is  now  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  southern  France,  the  capital  being  Tolosa 
(now  Toulouse).  This  Visigothic  Kingdom  lasted  for 
two  centuries,  when  it  was  overthrown  by  the  Saracens, 
after  losing  the  portion  in  Gaul  through  conquest  by  the 
Franks  from  Germany. 

In  A.  D.  486  the  Franks,  under  a  King  named  Clovis 
(a  corrupted  form  of  his  German  name  Chlodwig,  and 
really  the  same  as  the  modern  Louis)  invaded  and  con- 
quered a  part  of  Gaul,  and  the  first  or  Merovingian 
dynasty  (from  Merwig,  grandsire  of  Clovis)  of  the  earlier 
monarchy  of  France  was  established,  the  name  France 
being  derived  from  the  conquering  people,  as  England 
from  the  Angles.  These  tall,  blue-eyed,  flaxen-haired 
Germans,  armed  with  heavy  swords,  battle-axes,  and 
large  shields,  gradually  made  their  way  to  the  south, 
and  drove  out  the  Visigoths,  but  settled  themselves 
chiefly  in  the  north  of  Gaul.  Clovis  and  his  people  em- 
braced the  faith  of  his  wife  Clotilda,  a  Christian  Princess 
of  Burgundian  race,  and  the  Frank  conquerers  adopted 
the  language  (a  corrupted  Latin)  spoken  by  the  con- 
quered Gauls,  Clovis  died  in  A.  D.  $u,  and  the  divi- 


MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY  299 

sion  of  his  dominions  among  his  sons  was  followed  by 
a  period  of  dreary  warfare  and  crime.  The  dominion  of 
the  Franks  extended  far  to  eastward  of  the  Rhine. 
Thus  much  of  Gaul  passed  from  being  a  Roman  prov- 
ince into  the  form  of  a  monarchy  inaugurated  by  Ger- 
man barbarians.  The  Burgundians  established  a  King- 
dom in  the  southeast  of  Gaul,  which  disappeared  for  a 
time  by  Prankish  conquest,  and  the  boundaries  of  which 
varied  from  time  to  time  according  to  their  successes 
in  war  against  neighboring  states. 

The  Kingdoms  founded  by  the  Lombards  and  the 
Scandinavian  tribes  come  later  in  the  history.  The 
Angles  and  the  Saxons  belonged  to  the  Low  Dutch 
division  of  the  Teutonic  race,  being  that  portion  of  tlie 
German  peoples  that  had  not  been  Christianized  or  civ- 
ilized in  Roman  times,  and  that  dwelt  near  the  sea,  by 
the  mouths  of  the  Rhine,  Weser,  and  Elbe.  The  Ger- 
man tribes  with  whom  we  have  dealt  in  connection  with 
the  Roman  Empire  belonged  to  the  High  Dutch  divi- 
sion, dwelling  in  central  and  southern  Germany  away 
from  the  sea.  The  conquest  of  Britain  by  the  Angles, 
Saxons,  and  Jutes,  was  completed  by  the  end  of  the 
Sixth  Century,  the  English  Nation  was  gradually 
formed,  the  land  was  Christianized  by  missionaries  from 
Rome  under  St.  Augustine  in  the  Seventh  Century,  and 
the  people  were  united  into  one  realm  under  Egbert 
early  in  the  Ninth. 

From  the  union. of  the  new  Germanic  Nations  and 
tongues  with  those  of  the  conquered  Roman  Empire  of 
the  West  sprang  the  Romance  (i.  e.,  Romanized  or  Lat- 
inized) peoples  and  languages  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
Europe.  The  Latin  of  literature  and  of  educated  speech 
was  corrupted  in  the  common  parlance  of  the  people  of 
Gaiul,  of  Spain,  and  of  Italy,  and  from  this  corruption 


300      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and  the  admixture  of  Teutonic  words  arose  the  Proven- 
c,al  tongue  of  southern  France,  and  the  French,  Spanish, 
and  Italian  languages.  In  the  east  of  Switzerland  and 
in  Roumania  (part  of  the  ancient  Dacia)  the  language 
spoken  by  the  people  is  also  of  Latin  origin.  The  chief 
Latin  or  Romance  Nations  of  modern  Europe  are  there- 
fore the  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian;  in  the  earlier 
mediaeval  times  the  people  of  the  districts  called  Pro- 
vence and  Aquitaine,  south  of  the  Loire,  are  to  be 
regarded  as  a  separate  Nation  from  the  French  to  the 
north  of  that  river. 

The  English  language  is  in  the  main  Teutonic,  with  a 
Romance  or  Latin  element  in  the  Norman- French,  Old 
French,  and  Latin  words  introduced  after  the  conquest  i 
the  German  nations  of  central  Europe  and  the  people  ot 
Holland  have  kept  their  speech  free  from  the  influence 
of  Latin,  as  also  the  Scandinavian  nations,  including  the 
Danes,  Swedes,  and  Norwegians.  The  Slavonic  races 
of  Europe  (Russians,  Poles,  etc.)  speak  languages  of 
their  own,  Aryan  in  origin,  but  distinct  both  from  the 
Romance  and  Teutonic  tongues.  The  Celtic  tongues 
(Gaelic,  Erse  of  Ireland,  and  Manx  being  included)  are 
almost  extinct,  save  in  Wales  and  in  Brittany,  inhabited 
by  Celtic  descendants  of  the  ancient  Britons,  who  still 
to  a  great  degree  retain  the  olden  speech,  and  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland. 

The  Eastern,  Greek,  or  Byzantine  Empire  continued 
to  exist  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Western,  and  to  pass  gradually  to  decay,  while  the 
new  nationalities  and  the  new  civilization  of  Europe 
were  being  developed  in  ever-growing  vigor  under  the 
influence  of  the  German  spirit  that  was  to  regenerate  the 
world.  The  Emperors  at  Constantinople,  though  they 
ruled  dominions  where  the  language  and  civilization 


HISTORY  301 

were  mainly  Greek,  still  claimed  to  be  Roman  Emperors, 
and  under  their  sway  the  laws  and  official  forms  of  Im- 
perial Rome  were  maintained.  The  head  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  the  East  was  the  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, as  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  in  the  West. 

The  Byzantine  Empire  reached  its  highest  point  of 
power  and  fame  in  the  Sixth  Century,  during  the  reign 
of  Justinian,  A.  D.  527-565.  It  was  he  who  built  the 
great  Church  (now  the  Mosque  in  Mahommedan  hands) 
of  Saint  Sophia  at  Constantinople.  His  chief  service  to 
mankind  was  the  codification  of  the  laws  of  Rome,  to 
which  is  due  the  great  system  of  Roman  jurisprudence 
called  the  Civil  Law,  forming  the  basis  of  so  much  of  the 
law  in  European  states  at  the  present  day. 

The  Roman  law  was  an  active  and  living  principle. 
It  was  always  open  to  receive  new  impressions,  and 
anxious  for  improvement  and  development.  It  set 
before  itself  ideas  of  humanity  and  justice  which  it  aimed 
at  accomplishing.  It  trained  multitudes  of  keen  intel- 
lects in  the  contemplation  and  pursuit  of  broad  and 
noble  ends.  It  constituted  in  itself  a  wide  and  liberal 
education,  and  familiarized  its  students  first  with  the 
highest  philosophy,  and  afterward  with  the  purest 
religion  of  the  period.  It  had  been  the  constant  policy 
of  the  Emperors  to  render  the  old  municipal  law  of 
Rome  a  fitting  instrument  for  the  Government  of  a 
world-wide  Empire.  Ideas  of  universal  equity  replaced, 
under  their  patronage,  the  narrow  selfishness  of  the 
Twelve  Tables.  From  the  time  of  Augustus  the  sub- 
jects of  the  conquering  city  received  a  long  and  patient 
training  in  the  philosophy  of  jurisprudence.  While  the 
Empire  was  tottering  to  its  fall  they  still  cherished  a  con- 
viction of  the  permanence  of  the  principles  on  which  its 
social  fabric  had  so  long  been  maintained.  At  the  end 


302      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

of  the  Fourth  Century  the  poet  Rutilius  could  boldly 
prophesy  that  in  her  legal  institutions  Rome  should  yet 
be  immortal.  In  this  faith  her  jurists  still  persevered, 
working  bravely  for  an  unknown  future.  When  the 
Theodosian  Code  or  Digest  was  at  last  promulgated  by 
the  third  Valentinian,  Africa  was  already  occupied  by 
the  Vandals,  Gaul  and  Spain  had  been  seized  by  the 
Visigoths  and  Burgundians;  the  Franks,  the  Saxons,  the 
Ostrogoths,  and  the  Lombards  were  visibly  hovering  in 
the  rear;  but  preparation  had  been  thus  made  for  placing 
all  these  barbarians  under  civil  restraints,  and  to  these 
restraints  they  for  the  most  part  consented  to  submit. 
It  was  this  "noble  legacy"  of  Roman  law  that  Justinian 
undertook  to  put  into  a  practical  shape,  suited  to  the 
then  present  and  future  needs  of  the  whole  world. 

In  A.  D.  528-529  a  number  of  commissioners,  includ- 
ing the  famous  Tribonianus,  completed  the  Codex  Jus- 
tinianus  (Justinian's  Code),  a  summary  of  the  imperial 
legislation  of  Rome.  Tribonian,  then  at  the  head  of 
another  commission,  superintended  the  compilation, 
from  the  books  of  the  great  Roman  jurists,  of  the  work 
known  as  the  Digest  or  Pandects  (i.  e.,  "arranged  mat- 
ter" or  "all-embracing  work"),  containing  authoritative 
interpretations  and  judgments  on  legal  points.  A  third 
commission,  including  Tribonian,  then  prepared  a 
simple  elementary  summary  called  Institutiones  ("Insti- 
tutes," i.  e.  precepts  or  principles),  based  chiefly  on  the 
above-named  work  of  Gaius.  A  second  revised  edition 
of  the  Code  was  published  in  534,  and  this  work,  with 
the  Pandects  (or  Digest),  the  Institutes,  and  a  supple- 
ment to  the  Code,  known  as  the  Novels  (in  Latin 
"Novelise  Constitutiones,"  "new  enactments"),  form  the 
Corpus  Juris  Civilis  ("Body  of  Civil  Law"),  the  Roman 
law  as  generally  accepted  in  Europe. 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY  303 

In  the  East,  Justinian's  great  General,  the  famous 
Belisarius,  an  Illyrian  of  low  birth,  fought  against  the 
Persian  King  (one  of  the  greatest  monarchs  of  the  later 
Persian  Empire)  Chosroes  I  (or  Nushirvan),  who 
reigned  A.  D.  531-579.  Justinian  purchased  peace  by 
payment  of  tribute  to  this  Oriental  despot,  whose 
Empire  extended  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Indus.  In 
the  West,  Justinian's  arms  had  great  success.  In  534 
the  Vandal  Kingdom  in  Africa  was  brought  to  an  end 
by  the  victories  of  Belisarius.  In  535  Belisarius  con- 
quered Sicily,  and  from  535-540,  and  again  from  541- 
544,  fought  with  the  Goths  in  Italy,  until  the  jealousy  of 
his  master  recalled  him.  His  successor  in  command, 
Narses,  completed  the  overthrow  of  the  Ostrogothic 
Kingdom  in  Italy  by  his  campaigns  in  552-553.  Under 
Justinian,  the  Visigoths  were  driven  out  of  the  south  of 
Spain,  so  that  there  was  for  a  time  a  revived  Roman 
Empire  of  the  West,  and  the  Roman  dominion  again 
comprised  almost  the  whole  of  the  Mediterranean  coasts. 
Justinian  died  in  565,  and  a  speedy  change  came  in  Italy. 

The  warlike  German  people  called  Lombards  had 
settled  in  Pannonia  (territory  in  the  south  of  what  is 
now  the  Austrian  Empire),  by  Justinian's  invitation, 
about  540.  In  their  new  quarters  they  fought  to  exter- 
mination with  the  Gothic  people  called  Gepidse,  and  in 
568  passed  over  the  Alps  into  the  fertile  plain  of  north- 
ern Italy  which  still  bears  their  name.  Under  their 
King  Alboin,  the  Lombards  subdued  all  the  north  and 
much  of  the  south  of  Italy  (the  central  part,  including 
the  cities  of  Rome  and  Ravenna,  on  the  Adriatic,  with 
Sicily,  Corsica,  and  Sardinia,  remaining  still  Roman), 
and  the  Lombard  Kingdom  of  Italy  thus  formed  con- 
tinued for  two  centuries,  until  it  was  conquered  by  Char- 
lemagne. The  growth  of  Venice  dates  from  the  time  of 


304     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

this  Lombard  conquest,  when  fugitives  from  their  cruel 
ravages  fled  for  safety  to  the  islands  and  lagoons  at  the 
head  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  where  a  town  had  been  previous- 
ly founded  by  fugitives  from  the  Huns.  The  flourishing 
period  of  the  Eastern  Empire  closes  for  a  long  time  with 
Heraclius,  who  died  in  A.  D.  641.  The  Persians,  and 
the  Mongolian  race  from  Asia  called  the  Turks  (with 
their  kinsmen  the  Avars),  attacked  the  Empire  in 
formidable  strength.  Between  611  and  615  the  Per- 
sians overran  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor,  remaining 
encamped  for  ten  years  within  sight  of  Constantinople. 
At  last  Heraclius  arose  from  his  sluggish  impotence,  and 
with  great  ability  and  courage,  between  620  and  627, 
recovered  the  whole  of  the  Persian  conquests. 

On  the  whole,  the  Byzantine  Empire  presents  the 
dreary  spectacle  of  a  state  possessing  the  form  and  the 
dogmas,  with  very  little  of  the  life,  power,  and  spirit  of 
the  Christianity  which  was  the  established  religion  of  the 
realm.  -  The  chief  interests  in  religious  matters  were 
fierce  and  endless  disputes  and  conflicts  about  doctrine 
and  image-worship,  and  on  the  appointment  to  ecclesi- 
astical offices.  Murder,  conflagration,  and  plunder  re- 
sulted from  differences  of  dogma  and  of  worship.  In 
secular  affairs,  sanguinary  encounters  arose  between  the 
factions  of  the  blue  and  the  green,  the  distinguishing 
colors  of  the  different  parties  of  combatants  in  the 
gladiatorial  games,  which  cruel  spectacles  the  Christi- 
anity of  Constantinople  had  not  succeeded  in  abolishing 
as  a  source  of  popular  delight.  Greek  culture  was  still 
preserved  in  these  Eastern  provinces,  "where  the  ancient 
civilization,  though  slowly  fading  away  under  the  influ- 
ence of  misgovernment,  might  still  astonish  and  instruct 
barbarians;  where  the  court  still  exhibited  the  splendor 
of  Diocletian  and  Constantine;  where  the  public  build 


MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY  305 

ings  were  still  adorned  with  the  sculptures  of  Polycletus 
and  the  paintings  of  Apelles,  and  where  laborious  ped- 
ants, themselves  destitute  of  taste,  sense,  and  spirit, 
could  still  read  and  interpret  the  master-pieces  of 
Sophocles,  of  Demosthenes,  and  of  Plato." 

The  history  of  this  Byzantine  Empire  presents,  again 
and  again,  disgusting  pictures  of  weakness  against  out- 
ward attack,  evil  passions  within,  rebellious  Generals, . 
Emperors  deposed,  and  often  poisoned  or  otherwise 
murdered  by  their  own  wives  and  sons,  intellectual  decay 
and  moral  corruption  bringing  all  at  last,  after  periods  of 
revived  power  and  prosperity,  to  long-delayed  and  then 
irretrievable  ruin. 

Clovis,  founder  of  the  Merovingian  dynasty,  died  in 
A.  D.  511,  and  his  descendants  kept  for  nearly  two  cen- 
turies the  crown  which  he  had  won;  but  the  history  of 
the  Prankish  Empire  during  this  period  is  chiefly  that  of 
the  follies  or  crimes  of  weak  or  wicked  Kings,  while 
frequent  changes  took  place  in  the  boundaries  of  the 
Kingdom.  In  584  the  real  power  passed  over  to 
certain  officials  called  Mayors  of  the  Palace.  The  Min- 
ister called  Mayor  of  the  Palace  was  elected  by  the 
Frank  nobles,  and,  in  command  of  the  army,  was  the 
actual  sovereign;  the  stupid  slothfulness  of  the  nominal 
monarchs  has  given  them  the  title  of  Rois  faineants  or 
Do-nothing^  Kings.  In  687  a  Mayor  of  the  Palace 
named  Pepin  (of  Heristal,  a  town  on  the  Meuse)  de- 
feated rival  Frankish  claimants,  and,  acquiring  rule  over 
the  whole  Frankish  dominions,  really  founded  the  Sec-" 
ond  or  Carlovingian  dynasty,  already  holding  his  office 
of  Mayor  by  hereditary  right.  His  son,  Charles  Martel, 
was  a  vigoros  ruler,  famous  for  his  victory  over  the  Mus- 
sulman invaders  of  France  in  732.  In  752  Pepin  the 
Short,  son  of  Charles,  became  King  of  the  Franks  in 

VOI,.  1—20 


306      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

name  as  well  as  in  fact,  being  crowned  by  the  Pope  with 
the  title  of  "King  of  Francia,"  while  the  dynasty  of  the 
Merovingian  Kings  was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  formal 
deposition  of  the  last  of  the  rois  faineants,  Childeric  III. 
In  the  northwest  corner  of  Europe,  aloof  from  the 
troubles  that  harassed  the  races  on  the  Continent,  were 
what  is  now  known  as  the  British  Isles,  but  which  then 
were  reckoned  as  of  a  scant  importance.  To  its  inhabi- 
tants of  Celtic  origin  had  come  successively  tribes  of 
Teutonic  origin  driven  from  the  Continent  by  enemies. 
Rough  and  uncouth  were  they  when  Caesar's  all-con- 
quering armies  made  a  raid  in  55  B.  C,  which  Claudius 
attempted  (in  A.  D.  43)  to  make  a  complete  conquest, 
but  without  entire  success.  The  Britons  met  their 
formidable  foes  with  a  most  tenacious  and  determined 
opposition.  Vespasian,  afterward  Emperor  of  Rome, 
had  all  he  could  do  to  win  for  Rome,  after  many  battles, 
the  territory  now  forming  Hampshire  and  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  But  four  years  later  Roman  skill  and  discipline 
won  their  way,  and  Caractacus  being  defeated  by  Ostorius 
Scapula,  the  limits  of  Roman  sway  were  increased. 
Under  Boadicea,  a  female  ruler  in  the  eastern  district, 
the  tribes  rose  in  revolt,  being  wearied  by  extortions, 
licentiousness  and  insults  to  Druidism,  which  was  the 
National  worship.  Led  by  the  Queen  herself,  the 
Britons  for  a  time  were  triumphant,  but  in  the  end  Sue- 
tonius captured  the  stronghold  of  the  Druids  in  Mona, 
cut  down  the  sacred  groves  of  oaks  and  burned  the 
priests  in  their  own  wicker  idols.  This  was  the  end  of 
the  independence  of  the  Kings  who  ruled  the  scattered 
British  tribes.  Eight  years  of  wise  government  ended 
occasion  for  revolt.  Yet  all  of  Briton  was  never  sub- 
dued by  the  Romans,  who  attempted  by  great  defensive 
works  to  exclude  from  their  dominions  the  still  uncon- 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY  307 

querecl  Celts  of  the  North.     With  them  there  was  con- 
stant warfare. 

Three  distinct  races  existed  in  Britain  under  the 
Roman  rule.  At  the  North,  now  known  as  Scotland, 
were  the  Caledonians,  Picts,  and  Scots  unsubdued  by 
the  Romans.  The  Scots  are  known  to  have  been  Gaelic 
immigrants  from  Ireland — the  language  spoken  by  some 
of  the  Scotch  Highlanders  to-day  being  the  same  as  the 
Erse  tongue  spoken  by  the  Irish.  The  Picts  have 
always  been  a  puzzle  to  ethnologists,  for  though  they 
were  probably  of  the  Celtic  race,  their  language  differed 
from  that  of  the  British  and  Irish.  In  the  East  and 
South  were  the  Logrians,  who  had  come  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Roman  civilization.  At  the  West,  beyond 
the  Severn,  were  the  Cambrians  or  Welsh,  who  seemed 
invincible  in  their  mountain  fastnesses.  Abandoned  by 
the  legions  (428),  and  without  defense  from  the  Picts, 
the  Logrians  appealed  (453)  for  aid  to  the  Saxons,  the 
Jutes,  and  the  Angles,  who  were  constantly  leaving  their 
German  and  Scandinavian  shores  to  plough  the  seas. 
Two  Saxon  chiefs,  Hengist  and  Horsa,  vanquished  the 
Picts  and  received  in  recompense  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  off 
the  shore  of  Kent.  But  Hengist,  despoiling  those  who 
had  called  him,  took  possession  of  the  country  from  the 
Thames  to  the  Channel  and  gave  himself  the  title  of 
King  of  Kent.  From  this  time  the  ambition  of  these 
pirates  was  to  secure  a  foothold  in  Britain.  In  491  the 
Kingdom  of  Sussex  was  founded,  in  516  that  of  Wes- 
sex,  in  526  that  of  Essex.  The  invasion  of  the  Angles 
began  in  547,  and  they  founded  the  Kingdoms  of  North- 
umberland on  the  east  side  of  the  island,  and  those  of 
East  Anglia  (577)  and  of  Mercia  (584).  This  made 
three  English  Kingdoms  besides  the  four  Saxon  ones, 
being  in  all  seven  petty  monarchies,  which  later  became 


3o8      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

a  single  State.  The  Saxons  formed  the  basis  of  the 
actual  population  of  the  country,  and  England  owes  her 
language  to  them.  Long  before  political  union  had 
been  reached  the  unity  of  the  people  found  expression 
in  a  single  Christian  church.  The  political  union  ot 
England  was  effected  during  the  thirty-six  years'  rule 
of  Egbert  (801-837),  King  of  Wessex,  who  had  seen 
something  of  centralization  in  the  court  of  Charlemagne, 
whose  friend  he  was. 


RISE    OF   THE    SARACENS 

Early  in  the  Seventh  Century  a  movement  began  in 
the  heart  of  Arabia  which  was  to  result  in  a  succession 
of  the  most  stupendous  religious  and  political  revolu- 
tions that  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  The  Arabs  or 
Saracens  were  about  to  assail,  almost  at  the  same  time, 
every  Nation  and  tribe  of  the  Old  Roman  and  Persian 
world,  from  India  and  the  borders  of  China  to  France 
and  Spain.  The  term  Arabs  means  "people  of  the 
West"  (from  their  position  in  Asia),  and  the  word  Sara- 
cens means  "people  of  the  East/'  the  name  adopted  by 
them  after  their  passage  into  Africa  and  Europe,  when 
the  former  title  had  become  geographically  inappropri- 
ate. The  fact  that  Islamism  is  at  the  present  day  the 
hope  and  the  faith  of  some  two  hundred  millions  of  the 
human  race  gives  an  enduring  interest  to  the  story  of 
the  deeds  of  those  who  brought  about  so  mighty  a 
result.  The  Saracens,  now  attacking  Aryan  Europe, 
were  of  Semitic  race,  and  theirs  is  the  only  Semitic 
power  which  has  played  any  great  part  in  history  since 
the  time  of  the  great  dominion  of  Carthage.  Islamism 
is  also  the  last  of  three  great  religions  which  have  come 
out  from  among  the  Semitic  nations,  and  all  of  which 
taught  men  that  there  is  but  one  God,  and  bade  them  to 
keep  from  the  worship  of  idols.  First  came  Judaism, 
then  Christianity,  and  last  the  religion  of  Mahomet  (or 
Mohammed). 

The  secret  of  the  power  wielded  by  the  Saracens  lay  in 
the  religious  enthusiasm  which  is  called  fanaticism — the 
reckless  fervor  of  abandonment  to  the  one  present  passion 

309 


310      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  the  soul.  In  their  poetry,  in  love,  in  the  warfare  by 
means  of  which  their  religion  was  so  widely  spread,  this 
enthusiastic  devotion  is  displayed.  Hence  the  extraordi- 
nary rapidity  of  their  conquests  in  forcing  the  peoples, 
under  the  influence  of  terror,  to  embrace  a  faith  which,  in 
order  to  promote  the  worship  of  the  One  God,  has  no 
regard  to  race,  or  caste,  or  nation,  or  political  distinction; 
a  religious  system,  in  which  it  was  the  highest  merit  to  die 
on  its  behalf,  with  promise  of  a  sure  reward  in  Paradise 
for  him  who  should  fall  fighting  for  the  cause. 

Their  enthusiasm  was  roused  by  the  founder  of  a  ne\v 
religion — Mahomet.  This  extraordinary  man  was  born 
at  the  sacred  city  of  Mecca,  in  Arabia,  in  the  year  569. 
He  came  of  a  noble  family  among  a  people  who  have  been 
described  as  "the  semi-barbarous  sons  of  the  Desert,  but 
slightly  penetrated  with  the  civilization  of  city  life;  a  peo- 
ple whose  courage  was  the  daring  of  the  robber — a  race 
careless  alike  of  fatigue  and  danger,  lawless  in  daring, 
pertinacious  of  purpose,  implacable  in  revenge,  strangers 
as  yet  to  the  enervation  that  is  born  of  wealth  and  luxury 
and  power,  but  not  devoid  of  a  rude  chivalry  of  action  and 
an  imaginative  poetry  of  feeling — such  were  the  Arabians 
of  the  time  of  Mahomet.  When  the  great  religious  re- 
former appeared  among  the  Arabs,  the  old  patriarchal 
faith,  of  the  time  when  Job  was  an  Arabian  chieftain,  had 
been  changed  into  a  degrading  idolatry,  and  in  the  Kaaba 
or  sacred  temple,  at  Mecca,  360  graven  and  molten  images 
were  standing.  In  Persia  the  philosophical  and  elevating 
creed  of  Zoroaster  had  degenerated  into  vague  mysticism 
and  fire-worship,  while  in  Syria  and  Egypt  Christianity 
had  hidden  its  face,  amid  a  wild  carnival  of  fantastic  spec- 
ulations, idolatries,  and  heresies.  But  the  hour  and  the 
man  had  now  come. 

Over  the  scattered  tribes  of  Arabia  there  arose  a  King, 


RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS  311 

and  over  their  divided  worships  a  priest  and  a  prophet. 
'There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mahomet  is  His  prophet. 
God  is  one,  Almighty,  all-righteous,  not  a  mere  cold  and 
remote  abstraction,  no  motionless  image  graven  in  stone 
or  marble,  but  a  living  God,  the  King  of  Kings,  and  the 
Lord  of  Lords.  He  has  chosen  you  to  be  the  workers  of 
His  will  and  the  champions  of  His  truth.  He  has  called 
you  to  victory  over  the  infidel  in  this  world,  and  to  an  ever- 
lasting paradise  in  the  next."  It  needs  no  great  effort  of 
the  imagination  to  picture  the  effect  of  such  an  announce- 
ment, when  once  it  had  succeeded  in  gaining  for  itself  a 
hearing.  It  was  at  once  an  appeal  to  the  deepest  and 
truest  instincts  of  a  Semitic  people,  and  the  gathering  cry 
of  an  awakened  patriotism.  It  proclaimed  to  the  skeptic 
a  creed,  and  to  the  warriors  a  warfare  and  a  crown.  Tc 
win  the  joys  of  Paradise  by  the  subjugation  and  conver- 
sion of  the  earth  was  a  prospect  which  might  well  whet  a 
worldly  ambition  no  less  than  stimulate  a  religious  zeal, 
and  we  wonder  not  so  much  at  the  victories  of  Islamism 
as  that  it  left  anything  unconquered,  and  that,  after  the 
fiercest  onslaughts  of  the  Saracen,  the  incense  of  Christian 
worship  still  went  up  from  the  temple  of  St.  Sophia. 
Such,  in  its  purer  beginnings,  was  the  religious  system 
which  has  endured  for  twelve  hundred  years,  recognizing 
and  perpetuating  the  two  fatal  social  evils  of  polygamy 
and  slavery,  stereotyping  despotism,  and  making  political 
progress  impossible  by  the  inextricable  interweaving  of  the 
civil  law  with  the  divine  in  the  eternal  and  immutable 
Koran. 

In  629  Mohammed*  captured  the  holy  city,  Mecca, 
completed  the  conquest  of  Arabia,  and,  after  calling  on  the 
King  of  Persia  (Chosroes  II)  and  the  Byzantine  Emperor 
(Heraclius)  to  embrace  Islamism,  prepared  to  march  be- 

*See  volume  "World's  Famous  Foreign  Statesmen.** 


ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

yond  the  borders  of  Arabia.  At  this  juncture  he  died, 
cut  off  by  a  fever  at  Medina  in  A.  D.  632. 

The  leaders  and  rulers  of  the  Arabs  who  came  after 
Mohammed  were  called  his  Caliphs  or  Successors,  and  the 
first  of  them  was  his  father-in-law,  Abubeker.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  arms  of  Islam  was  generally  rapid.  The  choice 
offered  to  mankind  lay  among  three  things — the  Koran, 
tribute,  or  the  sword — all  must  either  embrace  the  new 
faith,  pay  tribute  for  the  keeping  of  their  old  faith,  or  die. 
By  the  year  639  all  Syria  and  Egypt  had  been  conquered, 
and  the  armies  started  westward  through  Northern  Africa, 
and  swept  on  northward  to  Asia  Minor,  and  eastward  over 
Persia.  Persia  and  the  east  of  Asia  Minor  fell  an  easy 
prey;  but  in  Africa,  where  Christianity  was  strongly  estab- 
lished, a  long  and  stout  resistance  was  made,  the  conquest 
not  being  completed  till  709.  From  Africa  the  followers 
of  the  prophet  crossed  over  into  Spain,  and  by  the  year 
713  the  Crescent  was  triumphant  by  the  Atlantic  in  the 
West,  and  in  the  Indian  province  of  Sind,  (or  Scinde)  in 
the  East 

In  673  the  Saracens  were  repulsed  from  Constanti- 
nople, and  in  718  a  formidable  crisis  came.  The  ruler  of 
the  Eastern  Empire  was,  happily  for  Europe  and  the 
world,  a  man  of  vigor  and  ability,  Leo  the  Isaurian  (from 
Isauria,  a  district  of  Asia  Minor),  and  his  repulse  of  the 
Saracen  attacks  on  Constantinople,  and  his  defeat  of  the 
foe  beneath  her  walls,  prevented  a  loss  which,  at  that 
epoch,  would  have  been  most  serious  for  the  religion  and 
civilization  of  Europe.  Constantinople  was  then  the 
head  of  Christendom,  and  the  law,  literature,  and  the- 
ology which  she  contained  and  represented  might  have 
perished  in  a  Saracen  success.  The  efforts  of  the  Sara- 
cens to  enter  Europe  by  the  east  continued  at  intervals 
for  many  years  afterward,  but  they  never  had  any  perma- 


MOHAMMED. 


RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS  313 

nent  success  in  or  beyond  the  west  of  Asia  Minor,  and 
the  faith  of  the  Mussulmans  (the  words  Moslem,  Mus- 
lim, and  Mussulman  are  derived  from  Islam,  and  mean 
"the  Righteous,"  i.  e.  "those  who  are  at  peace  with  God 
through  right  doing"  was  to  become  established  at 
Constantinople  by  Mongolian  instead  of  by  the  original 
Semitic  believers. 

It  was  in  A.  D.  711-713  that  the  Saracens  (or  Moors, 
as  the  Spanish  writers  have  called  them,  because  they 
crossed  over  into  Spain  from  Mauritania,  the  modern 
Morocco)  overthrew  the  Kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  in 
Spain.  The  leader  of  the  Saracen  (Moorish)  invaders 
was  named  Tarik,  and  the  place  of  his  landing  derives  its 
name,  Gibraltar,  from  the  Arabic  words  Gebel-al-Tarik, 
"the  rock  of  Tarik."  The  town  of  Tarifa  (the  most 
southerly  place  in  Europe,  having  still  the  fortifications 
built  by  the  Moors,  and  a  very  ancient  Moorish  castle), 
southwest  of  Gibraltar,  preserves  the  name  of  the  same 
victorious  General.  The  Visigothic  King-  Roderick, 
called  "the  last  of  the  Goths,"  was  decisively  defeated  at 
the  town  north  of  Cadiz  called  Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  and 
in  the  struggle  Roderick — a  hero  of  Spanish  romance: — 
was  killed.  In  a  short  time  afterward  all  Spain  was 
subdued  by  the  Saracens,  with  the  exception  of  a  narrow 
mountainous  strip  in  the  north,  where  the  Christians 
maintained  themselves  and  their  faith.  The  Moorish  or 
Saracenic  rule  in  Spain  lasted  in  whole  or  in  part  for  700 
years. 

The  Saracens'  invasion  of  Europe  soon  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  into  southern  Gaul  (a  more  correct  designa- 
tion than  "France"  at  this  period  of  history)  and  made 
a  lodgment  there.  Another  great  crisis  in  the  history  of 
Europe  and  the  world  had  come — one  in  which  was  to 
be  decided  a  contest  between  the  Crescent  and  the 


3H      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Cross,  and  which  was  to  issue  in  the  deliverance  of 
European  Christendom,  save  in  Spain,  from  Islam,  and 
in  the  re-establishment  of  the  old  superiority  of  the 
Indo-European  over  the  Semitic  family  of  mankind. 

A  young  Prince  of  Germanic  race,  Karl  Martel  (or 
Charles  Martel,  in  the  French  form  of  his  name),  was 
the  champion  of  the  Christian  cause  in  this  great  wager 
of  battle,  when  appeal  was  made  by  arms  to  the  one 
God  whom  both  the  combatants  acknowledged  and 
adored.  It  was  exactly  a  Century  after  the  death  of 
Mohammed  (A.  D.  632)  when  the  deliverance  wrought  by 
the  battle  of  Tours  thus  affected  the  future  welfare  of 
mankind  (732). 

In  the  summer  of  A.  D.  732  the  great  Saracenic 
leader  Abderahman,  a  brave  and  skillful  General,  led  a 
great  host  of  Moslem  soldiery — Syrians,  Moors,  Sara- 
cens, Persians,  Tartars — across  the  Pyrenees,  and,  with 
his  clouds  of  light  cavalry,  overran  the  country  as  far  as 
the  Loire.  In  October  the  great  seven-days'  battle  of 
Moslem  horse — white-turbaned  warriors  of  tawny  skin 
— against  the  fair-haired,  stalwart  Prankish  foot,  steel- 
helmed,  and  armed  with  heavy  sword,  or  battle-axe,  or 
mace — was  fought  upon  the  plain  between  the  towns  of 
Poitiers  and  Tours.  The  end  was  that  the  Saracens 
were  utterly  defeated,  Abderahman  was  slain,  and  the 
attempt  of  Islam  to  conquer  Europe  by  the  west  had 
signally  and  finally  failed.  The  Frankish  leader,  Charles 
(son  of  Pepin  of  Heristal),  was  surnamed  Martel  (old 
French  for  "Hammer")  for  the  crushing  blow  thus  dealt, 
as  if  with  the  favorite  weapon  of  the  war-god  (Thor)  ol 
his  forefathers'  pagan  creed. 

It  was  only  for  a  short  time  that  the  vast  dominion 
acquired  by  the  Saracenic  conquests  was  kept  together 
as  a  single  Empire,  over  which  one  Caliph  ruled  from 


RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS  315 

India  to  Spain.  In  A.  D.  755  the  Empire  was  divided 
into  the  Eastern  and  Western  Caliphates,  the  Western 
Caliph  having  Spain,  with  his  capital  at  Cordova;  and 
the  Eastern  Saracenic  Empire  including  northern  Africa 
and  the  East,  with  the  capital  first  at  Damascus  and  then 
at  Bagdad.  The  Caliph  at  Bagdad  was  generally  re- 
garded as  the  head  of  the  world  of  Islam,  as  various  sects 
arose,  and  various  parts  of  the  Empire  were  split  off 
under  the  pressure  of  Turkish  invasion  from  the  East. 

The  best  known  of  the  Caliphs  of  Bagdad  is  Haroun- 
al-Raschid,  who  succeeded  to  power  in  786.  In  the 
"Arabian  Nights"  we  have  a  picture  of  the  life  led  by 
this  monarch  and  by  his  people  in  the  capital.  After  his 
time,  province  after  province  was  lost  to  the  Turks,  and 
in  A.  D.  1258  the  Mongols,  under  the  leadership  of  a 
grandson  of  Genghis  Khan,  conquered  the  Caliphate  of 
Bagdad,  and  subverted  the  dynasty  of  the  Seljukian 
Turks  (from  Seljuk,  a  chieftain  of  Bokhara  in  the  Ninth 
Century)  which  had  been  established  there. 

The  Mohammedan  rule  in  Spain  was  at  its  strongest 
under  the  Caliph  Abdalrahman,  about  the  middle  of  the 
Tenth  Century.  In  1051  the  Moors,  who  had  been 
summoned  from  Africa  to  help  the  Saracens  against  the 
advancing  power  of  the  Christians,  overthrew  the  Cali- 
phate of  Cordova,  and  the  real  Moorish  dominion  in 
southern  Spain  began. 

To  the  Arabs  Europe  is  indebted  for  many  of  the  arts 
and  sciences.  It  was  no  race  of  rude  and  savage  war- 
riors that  secured  a  foothold  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Continent.  The  Arabs  liked  and  practiced  commerce 
long  before  the  rise  of  Mohammed,  who  was  originally  a 
camel-driver.  The  armies  prepared  the  way  for  cara- 
vans in  Asia  and  Africa,  and  their  merchants  traveled  by 
roads  in  every  direction.  The  Arabs  became  sailors 


316      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and,  already  acquainted  with  the  use  of  a  compass,  im- 
perfectly borrowed  from  the  Chinese,  they  voyaged  over 
the  Red  Sea  and  the  Sea  of  Oman  penetrating  as  far  as 
Hindustan  and  Indo-China.  African  commerce  served 
as  a  link  between  the  East  and  West.  The  ports  of  Tri- 
poli, Tunis,  and  Tangiers  had  inherited  the  fortune  of 
the  vandal  Carthage;  Egypt  wisely  governed,  preserved 
her  old  fertility.  Haroun-al-Raschid,  Abou-Giafar,  and 
Al-Mamoun,  displayed  in  the  Eighth  and  Ninth  Centuries 
the  most  wonderful  luxury  at  Bagdad.  Palaces  orna- 
mented with  marble  columns,  and  with  rich  carpets 
manufactured  in  the  East,  superb  gardens,  refreshed  by 
marble  fountains  falling  into  marble  basins,  a  profusion 
of  silken  materials  from  India  and  of  precious  stones, 
every  refinement  of  luxury,  and  all  the  magnificence  of 
the  old  Oriental  monarchies — this  scarcely  describes  the 
pomp  of  the  Caliphs,  who  lavished  thus  the  tributes 
levied  from  a  hundred  races.  Arab  poets  do  not  appear 
to  have  exaggerated  the  wealth  of  these  sovereigns  of 
Bagdad  who  succeeded  to  the  riches  of  Egypt  and  Asia. 
The  Caliphs  of  Cordova  were  not  less  opulent 
through  the  wise  administration  of  Abd-er-Rahman  I, 
of  Hischam  I,  of  Abd-er-Hahman  II,  of  Al-Hakkem  I, 
or  of  Al-Hakkem  II.  Arab  agriculture  converted  sev- 
eral parts  of  Spain  into  vast  gardens,  where  all  the  most 
beautiful  plants  of  the  southern  countries  flourished. 
The  ingenuity  of  the  Arabs  counteracted  the  dryness  of 
the  climate  by  skillful  irrigation,  and  aqueducts  cci 
veyed  the  water  preserved  in  artificial  ponds.  The 
Arabs  introduced  rice,  cotton,  the  sugar-cane,  and  the 
date-palm  into  Spain.  The  most  illustrious  chiefs  were 
proud  in  personally  cultivating  their  own  gardens.  The 
towns  were  filled  with  manufactures  of  silk,  cotton,  and 
cloth.  The  Arabs  introduced  the  use  of  indigo  and 


RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS  317 

cochineal,  or  rich  porcelain-colored  earthenware  and 
linen  paper  into  Spain.  They  excelled  in  the  art  of  dye- 
ing. The  leathers  of  Cordova  and  the  well-tempered 
weapons  of  Toledo  were  famous.  Spain  maintained  a 
large  commerce,  and  the  Caliphs  of  Cordova  had  at  least 
a  thousand  ships  in  their  fleets. 

The  first  Caliphs  would  have  liked  to  confine  all 
learning  to  reading  the  Koran,  but  they  were  not  so 
barbarous  as  they  were  reported  to  be,  and  the  confla- 
gration of  the  Alexandrian  library  was  not  ordered  by 
Omar.  Science  and  education  flourished.  Haroun 
never  traveled  without  a  procession  of  savants  and  he 
endeavored  to  found  a  free  school  by  the  side  of  each 
mosque.  Al-Mamoun  ordered  a  search  made  for  valua- 
ble manuscripts  and  for  their  translation  he  paid  their 
weight  in  gold.  Ten  thousand  pupils  studied  in  the 
College  of  Bagdad  alone.  The  Arabs  had  poets  rich 
and  luxuriant  in  their  images  and  historians  whose  nar- 
ratives are  naive.  But  they  were  chiefly  successful  in 
romances  such  as  those  known  as  "The  Arabian 
Nights."  In  philosophy  they  were  followers  of  Aris- 
totle, whom  they  did  not  understand.  Their  greatest 
service  to  literature  was  in  translating  and  preserving 
the  work  of  the  ancients. 

In  science  the  Arabs  were  more  successful  than  in 
literature.  They  borrowed  Aristotle's  "Natural  His- 
tory," but  they  added  much  to  it.  They  were  excellent 
physicians,  and  Christian  Princes  went  to  Cordova  to  be 
healed.  In  abstract  studies  they  were  pre-eminent. 
They  transmitted,  if  they  did  not  invent,  the  numerals 
which  replaced  the  clumsy  Roman  signs.  The  Arabic 
origin  of  algebra  is  indicated  by  its  name.  They  trans- 
lated the  works  of  the  Greek  geometricians  and  invented 
new  problems  in  the  science.  They  also  studied  trigo- 


3i8      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

nometry.  They  devoted  themselves  to  astrology,  which 
led  them  to  astronomy,  in  which  they  were  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  rest  of  the  world  in  their  day.  They 
studied  geography  from  globes,  and  knew  the  annual 
movement  of  the  equinoxes,  and  they  estimated  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  earth  at  26,000  miles.  Chemistry 
owes  its  name  and  its  beginnings  to  the  Arabs,  and 
pharmacy  was  developed  by  them. 

By  the  middle  of  the  Eighth  Century,  then,  the  Visi- 
goths had  long  disappeared  from  history  through  the 
conquest  of  their  Spanish  Kingdom  by  the  Saracens, 
and  the  transference  of  their  African  dominion,  first  to 
the  Eastern  Empire,  and  then  to  the  Mohammedan  Ca- 
liphs. In  Italy,  the  Ostrogoths  had  disappeared  before 
the  revival  of  the  power  of  the  Eastern  Empire  there, 
and  the  incoming  of  the  Lombards.  A  Prankish  (Ger- 
man) Kingdom  occupied  Gaul  and  most  of  west  and 
central  Germany,  and  though  for  the  sake  of  conveni- 
ence we  have  used  the  term  "France,"  there  was  as  yet 
no  "France"  in  our  modern  sense  of  the  word,  and  we 
must  regard  the  Princes  of  the  Merovingian  dynasty 
and  the  founders  of  the  Carlovingian  (Tepin  of  Heristal 
and  Charles  Martel)  simply  as  "Kings  of  the  Franks." 
The  Saracen  Empire  was  the  greatest  in  the  world  for 
power  and  extent,  and  the  Eastern  or  Byzantine  Empire 
included  only  the  west  of  Asia  Minor,  Greece  (to  the 
Balkans),  and  part  of  Italy.  The  Slavonians  were  be- 
coming powerful  between  the  Danube  and  the  Baltic, 
and  Mongolian  (Tartar)  tribes  from  Asia,  called  Bul- 
garians and  Magyars,  are  found  northwest  and  north  of 
the  Black  Sea.  The  English  are  settled  in  their  new 
home,  and  the  Danes  and  the  Norwegians  (or  North- 
men)— the  flower  of  the  Scandinavian  branch  of  the 
Teutonic  race — are  beginning  to  be  formidable  pirates 


RISE  OF  THE  SARACENS  319 

in  northwest  Europe.  We  have  now  come  to  the  epoch 
when  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West  was  for  a  time 
revived  by  the  great  man  who  has  been  (to  the  confusion 
of  many  minds)  called  by  the  French  name  of  Charle- 
magne, being  in  birth,  and  speech,  and  character,  and 
ways,  a  thorough  German. 


EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 

Karl  or  Charles  the  Great,  son  of  Pepin  the  Short, 
King  of  the  Franks,  came  to  the  throne  in  A.  D. 
768  as  joint  King,  but  assumed  sole  rule  in  771. 
He  is  one  of  the  great  men  of  history — distinguished  as 
a  soldier,  a  politician,  and  a  man  of  intellectual  taste  and 
ability.  He  created  a  great  and  powerful  monarchy  out 
of  the  chaos  of  nations  and  institutions  which  he  found 
existing  around  him,  and  though  his  Empire  fell  to 
pieces  at  his  death,  much  of  his  work  had  a  permanent 
effect,  in  that  he  created  a  solid  Prankish  dominion 
capable  of  maintaining  itself  generally  against  the 
hordes  of  Pagans  and  pirates,  which  threatened  Chris- 
tian Europe  from  the  East  and  North.  Charlemagne* 
displayed  a  wonderful  administrative  power,  and  much 
wisdom,  insight,  and  largeness  of  view  as  a  legislator. 
He  greatly  promoted  Christianity,  law,  order,  and  learn- 
ing, showing  his  ceaseless  activity  in  the  reform  of  the 
coinage,  .the  founding  of  schools,  the  collection  of 
libraries,  the  settlement  even  of  religious  disputes,  and 
in  attention  to  countless  details  of  reform  and  adminis- 
tration which,  after  his  death,  showed  that  unsettled 
tribes  had  been  turned  into  real,  regular,  and  durable 
communities.  The  power  of  the  Church  was  advanced 
by  his  enforcement  of  the  regular  payment  of  tithes 
throughout  his  dominions,  and  his  assigning  a  place  to 
Bishops  and  to  Abbots,  as  well  as  to  Dukes  and  to 
Counts,  in  the  feudal  system  which  had  already  virtually 
arisen.  In  the  Prankish  Empire  of  Charlemagne,  Chris- 

*  See  Volume  "World's  Famous  Foreign  Statesmen." 

320 


EMPIRE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE  321 

tianity  was  first  consolidated  into  a  political  form  pro- 
ceeding from  itself,  and  the  principle  of  hereditary  mon- 
archy became  established. 

The  Pagan  foes  subdued  by  the  Prankish  arms  under 
Karl  the  Great,  were  the  Germanic  and  Tartar  tribes  to 
the  North  and  East  of  his  inherited  Kingdom.  After 
many  years  of  intermittent  warfare  he  thoroughly  con- 
quered the  Saxons  on  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe,  and 
forced  them  to  embrace  Christianity.  He  overcame 
the  Tartar  race  called  Avars,  settled  in  the  territory  now 
called  Hungary,  and  the  whole  of  Germany  was  now  for 
the  first  time  united  under  one  ruler.  In  Spain,  he  took 
from  the  Saracens  the  territory  as  far  as  the  Ebro  (A.  D. 
778);  it  was  in  connection  with  this  expedition  that  the 
legends  arose  about  the  famous  hero  Roland  (the  Or- 
lando of  Italian  poetry),  and  his  exploits  in  the  valley  of 
Roncesvalles.  In  773  the  German  King  marched  into 
Italy,  to  help  Pope  Adrian  I  against  the  attacks  of  the 
Lombards.  Their  King  Desiderius  was  deposed,  and 
Charlemagne  was  crowned  King  of  Lombardy  with  the 
famous  iron  crown.  On  Christmas  Day,  A.  D.  800, 
as  he  knelt  on  the  steps  of  the  altar  at  divine  service  in 
Rome,  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter,  on  the  spot  where  now 
the  great  cathedral  stands,  Pope  Leo  III  placed  on  the 
brow  of  Karl  the  Great  the  diadem  of  the  Caesars,  and 
saluted  him  as  "Emperor  of  the  West"  by  the  title  of 
Charles  I,  Caesar  Augustus.  Bryce  in  his  "Holy  Roman 
Empire,"  says :  "Modern  history  begins  with  this  union, 
so  long  in  preparation,  so  mighty  in  its  consequences,  of 
the  Roman  and  the  Teuton,  of  the  memories  and  the 
civilization  of  the  South  with  the  fresh  energy  of  the 
North."  Rome  now  became  the  capital  of  the  Western 
Empire  in  the  South,  as  Aachen  (Aix-la-Chapelle)  was 

in  the  north,  and  Italy  and  Rome  were  henceforth  en- 
voi,. I  — 21 


322      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

tirely  cut  off  from  the  Eastern  Empire,  whose  capital 
was  Constantinople. 

The  great  Charles  made  no  effort  to  wield  the  des- 
potic rule  of  the  old  Roman  Emperors.  Each  nation  in 
his  dominions  was  allowed  to  retain  its  own  laws,  hered- 
itary chiefs,  and  free  assemblies,  while  the  control  of  a 
central  government  over  the  different  local  functionaries 
and  authorities  was  kept  up  by  the  despatch  of  royal 
commissioners  from  province  to  province  as  the  sov- 
ereign's representatives,  to  inspect,  report,  and  reform. 

Charlemagne's  energy  and  activity  were  incessant 
and  almost  superhuman.  Though  almost  every  year 
found  him  engaged  in  some  warlike  expedition  of  delib- 
erate conquest,  with  a  distinct  and  beneficial  end  in  view 
for  the  furtherance  of  civilization  and  Christianity,  he 
found  time  to  attend  to  all  sorts  of  matters  belonging  to 
the  administration  and  improvement  of  his  great  Empire 
— public  works  of  every  kind,  and  the  advancement  of 
learning,  even  to  the  collection  of  ballads  and  old  Frank- 
ish  poems.  He  gathered  men  of  letters  round  him  from 
all  quarters,  including  the  English  scholar  Alcuin,  who 
knew  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  and  was  Charle- 
magne's chief  instructor  and  adviser  in  literary  affairs. 
Under  his  superintendence  many  schools  were  founded 
in  connection  with  abbeys  and  monasteries,  for  the  study 
of  grammar,  rhetoric,  philosophy  and  science. 

Karl  the  Great  was  very  tall  and  very  strong;  simple 
and  frugal  in  dress,  habits,  and  mode  of  life;  dignified, 
amiable,  kind.  One  of  his  favorite  modes  of  pastime 
and  exercise  was  swimming,  for  which  purpose  he  con- 
structed magnificent  baths  at  Aachen,  his  capital.  Here 
Charlemagne  died  in  A.  D.  814,  after  a  reign  of  forty-three 
years. 

The  Empire  of  Charles  the  Great  extended  over  the 


EMPIRE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE  323 

whole  territory  northeast  from  the  Ebro  to  the  Elbe, 
and  west  of  a  line  drawn  south  from  Hamburg  to  Ven- 
ice, including  also,  to  east  of  that  line,  Bavaria,  Bohemia, 
and  most  of  Austria,  except  Hungary;  in  Italy  it  reached 
as  far  south  as  Gaeta.  In  other  words,  it  included  what 
is  now  the  northeast  of  Spain,  the  whole  of  France  and 
of  northern  and  central  Germany  (except  eastern  Prus- 
sia), much  of  Austria,  and  all  northern  and  central  Italy, 
with  the  Island  of  Corsica.  I 

Charlemagne's  Empire  bore  only  a  fictitious  resem- 
blance to  the  Empire  he  claimed  to  have  restored. 
No  doubt  its  unity  was  maintained  by  the  formidable  con- 
queror's iron  hand,  but  it  was  badly  secured  by  an  inco- 
herent administration,  that  was  but  a  confused  imitation 
of  the  ingenious  mechanism  of  the  Roman.  The  differ- 
ent nationalities  of  which  the  Empire  was  composed  had 
submitted  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Franks,  but  the  latter 
were  too  few  in  number  to  assimilate  the  conquered 
nations,  even  had  they  thought  of  doing  so.  By  placing 
Frank  counts  in  Italy  on  the  marches  (frontiers)  of  Spain, 
the  Elbe  and  the  Danube,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Main, 
Charlemagne  aimed  only  at  insuring  obedience.  To  main- 
tain authority  over  these  turbulent,  bellicose  populations 
required  a  succession  of  Charlemagnes.  Pepin's  family 
seemed  exhausted  and  the  Empire  of  Charlemagne  lasted 
only  during  his  life.  Many  other  causes  contributed  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  Empire  that  outwardly  seemed  so 
strong.  But  though  it  fell,  its  effects  remained.  Charle- 
magne would  not  occupy  the  place  in  history  that  poster- 
ity has  accorded  to  him  if  he  had  been  only  a  successful 
conqueror.  Charlemagne  created  Germany  and  be- 
queathed to  its  ruler  the  title  of  Roman  Emperor.  Charle- 
magne disciplined  the  new  populations  who  settled  in  the 
Empire,  forced  them  to  adopt  agricultural  life;  and 


324      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

throughout  central  Europe  he  planted  bishoprics  and 
abbeys  that  became  the  centers  of  civilization.  In  a  word 
his  powerful  hands  kneaded  together  the  materials  of  mod- 
ern Europe.  His  Empire  was  dismembered,  but  the  pieces 
formed  nations,  the  development  of  which  astonishes  us 
even  now. 


BEGINNINGS    OF    MODERN    NATIONS 

Charles  the  Great's  son,  Louis  le  Debonnaire  ("the 
gentle"),  became  the  second  Prankish  Emperor,  but  had 
not  the  force  of  character  necessary  to  maintain  a  posi- 
tion so  difficult,  and  even  during  his  lifetime  parts  of  the 
Empire  were  lost  to  him.  The  truth  was  that  a  reaction 
was  taking  place,  on  the  part  of  particular  nationalities, 
against  the  universal  sovereignty  of  the  Franks,  and,  after 
much  contention  among  the  three  sons  of  Louis,  the  Em- 
pire was  divided,  in  A.  D.  843,  by  the  Treaty  of  Verdun. 
The  name  of  the  King  of  the  central  and  southern  portion 
(Lothar)  survives  in  the  province  of  Lorraine  (in  Ger- 
man, Lothringen).  The  eastern  and  western  parts  cor- 
respond roughly  to  modern  Germany  and  France. 

There  were  frequent  changes  of  boundary  by  which 
the  Kingdoms  formed  began  gradually  to  roughly  corre- 
spond to  real  divisions  of  language  and  nations.  By  the 
year  930  the  Kingdom  of  Burgundy  had  arisen,  including 
what  is  now  Switzerland  and  the  southeast  of  France,  with 
the  capital  at  Aries;  about  1030  this  State  became  part  of 
the  German  Empire.  A  Duchy  of  Burgundy,  correspond- 
ing nearly  to  the  modern  French  province,  continued  inde- 
pendent or  semi-independent  till  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

In  887  a  final  separation  took  place  between  the  King- 
doms of  the  East  and  West  Franks,  answering  to  Germany 
and  France.  Germany  first  became  great  under  the  Saxon 
line  of  Kings,  and  afterward  Emperors,  beginning  in 
A.  D.  918  with  Henry  I,  or  Henry  the  Fowler,  elected 
to  be  King  by  certain  German  Princes.  He  was  a  prudent 
and  active  ruler,  who  forced  Suabia,  Bavaria,  and  Lor- 

325 


326      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

raine  to  submit,  and  fought  with  great  success  against  the 
Magyars  or  Hungarians,  who  were  striving  to  make  their 
way  into  Germany  from  the  East.  His  son  Otto  (or  Otho) 
the  Great,  ruled  from  936  to  973,  and  was  a  brave,  honest, 
and  able  monarch.  Under  him  the  Western  (Roman  or 
German)  Empire  was  restored  in  a  new  form,  by  which  it 
was  attached  to  the  chief  Frankish  Kingdom  (which  Ger- 
many had  now  become),  so  that  whoever  was  chosen,  by 
the  Princes  of  Germany,  King  of  Germany,  had  alone  a 
right  to  the  title  of  Emperor.  By  marriage  with  the 
King  of  Italy's  widow,  Otho  became  King  of  Lombardy 
in  951;  he  was  crowned  Emperor  by  the  Pope  in  962. 
This  line  of  Emperors,  the  Saxon,  ended  in  A.  D.  1024. 

Under  Conrad  II,  who  began  the  line  of  Franconian 
Emperors,  so  called  because  its  Princes  belonged  to  Fran- 
conia  or  Eastern  Francia,  the  eastern  or  German  part  of 
the  old  Kingdom  of  the  Franks,  the  Kingdom  of  Burgundy 
was  annexed  to  the  Empire.  Conrad's  son,  Henry  III, 
reigned  from  A.  D.  1039  to  1056,  and  was  one  of  the  great- 
est of  the  German  sovereigns — bold  energetic,  and 
enlightened.  He  did  much  to  maintain  order  and  religion 
both  in  Italy  and  Germany,  assuming  great  authority  in 
the  appointment  and  control  of  the  Popes,  and  keeping 
down  the  great  feudal  nobles  of  his  realm.  Henry  III 
also  promoted  art,  science,  and  literature,  founding  many 
schools  in  connection  with  the  monasteries.  Under  his 
successors,  serious  and  frequent  quarrels  arose  between 
Popes  and  Emperors,  causing  great  disorders  of  rebellion 
and  civil  war  in  Italy  and  Germany.  It  was  Henry  IV 
of  Germany  who  was  compelled,  by  excommunication 
absolving  his  subjects  from  allegiance,  to  submit  to  the 
famous  Pope  Hildebrand,  Gregory  VII  *  in  1077.  The 
Emperor  went  to  see  Gregory  in  his  residence  at  the 

*See  volume  "World's  Famous  Foreign  Statesmen." 


BEGINNINGS  OF  MODERN  NATIONS       327 

mountain  castle  of  Canossa,  near  Modena,  in  north  Italy, 
and  was  only  admitted  to  an  audience  after  waiting  in  the 
courtyard  for  three  successive  days  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
clad  in  a  penitential  dress.  This  famous  episode  has  made 
"going  to  Canossa"  a  proverbial  phrase  for  abject  submis- 
sion to  a  powerful  foe.  The  Franconian  line  of  Emperors 
ended  in  A.  D.  1125. 

The  Carlovingian  dynasty  in  France,  or  Karlings,  the 
proper  German  name  of  these  Frankish  Kings,  ruled  dur- 
ing part  of  the  time  between  A.  D.  750  and  980,  their 
tenure  being  interrupted  by  the  election  to  power,  as  Duke 
of  France,  in  887,  of  Eudes,  or  Odo,  whose  family  may 
be  looked  upon  as  French,  since  they  spoke  an  early  form 
of  the  Romance  language  thus  called.  The  capital  of  this 
Duchy  of  France  was  Paris,  and  the  power  of  its  rulers  did 
not  extend  south  of  the  Loire.  At  this  period,  Ninth  and 
Tenth  centuries,  in  what  we  now  call  France  the  territory 
and  rule  were  divided  amongst  a  number  of  independent 
or  quasi-independent  Dukes  and  Counts,  such  as  the  Dukes 
of  Guienne  or  Aquitaine  and  of  Gascony  in  the  south ;  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  in  the  east,  with  his  capital  at  Dijon; 
the  Count  of  Toulouse  in  the  south;  the  Count  of  Flanders 
in  the  north;  the  Duke  of  Brittany  in  the  northwest,  and 
the  Duke  of  Normandy  in  the  north. 

At  last,  in  A.  D.  987,  an  end  came  to  this  perplexing 
record  and  to  the  Carlovingian  dynasty,  by  the  election  as 
King  of  France  of  Hugh  Capet,  whose  dynasty  ruled  for 
nearly  350  years,  and  whose  descendants,  except  during 
revolutionary  and  Napoleonic  periods,  were  Kings  of 
France  till  1848.  With  Hugh  Capet,  then,  in  987  begins 
a  Kingdom  of  France  with  Paris  as  its  capital,  destined  to 
grow  to  its  full  size  and  strength  by  the  reduction  of  the 
power  of  the  petty  sovereigns  and  feudal  lords.  Capet, 
eldest  son  of  a  Duke  of  France,  was  chosen  King  by  the 


328      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

great  feudal  lords,  and  the  power  which  he  possessed  was 
simply  that  of  a  feudal  superior.  The  barons  were  con- 
stantly engaged  in  wars  with  each  other  and  in  oppression 
of  the  peasantry,  and  the  influence  of  the  church  was  bene- 
ficially used  in  some  quarters  by  causing  the  conclusion  of 
a  "God's  peace"  or  "Truce  of  God,"  prohibiting  all  war- 
fare and  tyranny. 

About  the  middle  of  the  Tenth  Century,  Otho  of 
Germany  had  become  King  of  northern  Italy.  The 
south  of  Italy  still  belonged  to  the  Byzantine  (Eastern) 
Empire.  The  temporal  power  of  the  Popes  had  become 
established  in  central  Italy.  About  the  middle  of  the 
Eleventh  Century  the  Normans  conquered  Apulia,  in  the 
southeast  of  Italy,  and  also  Sicily,  under  the  leadership 
of  Robert  Guiscard,  so  that  the  Eastern  Empire  lost 
most  of  its  Italian  possessions. 

In  Spain  the  Saracens  gradually  lost  power  by 
divisions  amongst  themselves,  and  the  Christians  began 
to  gain  ground.  In  the  north  a  Christian  Kingdom, 
that  of  Navarre,  had  risen  about  A.  D.  843.  In  1031 
the  Western  Caliphate  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Saracen 
dominion  in  Spain  was  cut  up  into  several  small  States. 
The  Spanish  Kingdoms  of  Aragon,  Castile,  Leon,  and 
Asturias  were  founded  in  the  Eleventh  Century,  and 
these  successes  caused  the  Saracens  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
the  Moors  from  Africa,  and  the  Moorish  Kingdom  in 
southern  Spain  maintained  the  Mohammedan  cause 
firmly  for  some  time  longer. 

From  the  south  inroads  were  made  by  the  Magyars, 
or  Hungarians.  This  people,  of  Asiatic  origin,  became 
Christianized  and  settled  in  a  Kingdom  still  bearing 
their  name,  before  the  end  of  the  Tenth  Century.  To 
the  north  of  them  Slavonic  States  were  founded  in 
Bohemia  and  Poland,  and  a  Duchy  of  Austria  arose  as 


BEGINNINGS  OF  MODERN  NATIONS       329 

a  border  State  between  Germany  and  the  Hungarians. 
Before  the  Eleventh  Century  Russia,  under  her  King 
Vladimir,  had  made  a  beginning  in  Christianity  and  civ- 
ilization, derived  from  intercourse  with  the  Byzantine 
Empire. 

Of  the  three  invasions  from  the  north,  south,  and 
east  which  brought  about  the  dissolution  of  the  Carlov- 
ingian  Empire,  that  of  the  Northmen  has  been  the  most 
important  in  its  effect  upon  history.  They  were  the 
dwellers  in  Scandinavia  and  on  the  northern  Baltic 
coasts.  All  the  territories  now  called  Denmark,  Sweden, 
and  Norway  supplied  these  dreaded  invaders,  but  Eng- 
land was  chiefly  assailed  by  men  from  Denmark,  while 
the  Norwegians  made  their  descent  on  France,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland.  The  Danes  were  closely  allied  to  the  Eng- 
lish and  Saxons.  They  were  sea-warriors  and  pirates, 
distinguished  by  strength,  courage,  merciless  ferocity, 
and  hatred  of  the  Christian  name  and  religion.  Eng- 
land was  the  chief  sufferer,  because  of  her  exposed  posi- 
tion west  of  the  North  Sea,  nor  was  any  part  of  the  land 
so  far  distant  from  the  sea  as  to  be  secure  from  attack. 
The  Northmen  had  pillaged  the  coasts  of  France  even 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  great  Charles,  and  once  in  the 
south  of  his  Empire,  as  he  gazed  from  a  port  on  the 
Mediterranean  upon  some  Norman  cruisers,  he  had 
shed  prophetic  tears  over  the  coming  fate  of  his  peo- 
ples. These  formidable  foes,  destined  to  make  two 
successive  conquests  of  England,  came  at  first  only  for 
pillage,  to  the  estuaries  of  France  and  the  British  isles. 
In  a  few  years  the  Dane,  or  Northman,  came  to  both 
lands  for  territory,  and  his  efforts  were  crowned  with 
success.  The  great  point  of  difference  between  the  in- 
vaded and  the  invaders  lay  in  the  maritime  skill  of  the 
Danes.  It  is  believed  that  the  younger  sons  of  the 


330      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Scandinavian  chiefs  were  driven  to  sea  robbery  for  a 
livelihood  by  the  law  of  primogeniture,  under  which 
the  eldest  son  inherited  all  of  the  property.  The  term 
King,  or  Viking  (applied  to  the  leaders  of  the  pirates 
or  to  the  whole  body),  means  men  of  the  bays  and  creeks, 
in  reference  to  the  countless  fiords  or  inlets  on  the  west 
coast  of  Norway.  The  English  had  by  this  time,  in 
their  devotion  to  a  life  of  tillage  and  pasture,  lost  their 
olden  love  for  maritime  pursuits,  and  were  thus  unpre- 
pared with  a  fleet  to  meet  their  foes  on  the  seas.  The 
French  had  never  had  any  maritime  skill.  The  pirates 
bore  as  their  national  flag  the  effigy  of  a  black  raven 
woven  on  a  blood-red  ground,  and  were  armed  with 
long,  heavy  swords  and  battle-axes  of  formidable  keen- 
ness and  weight.  The  Northmen  kept  both  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Odin  and  their  life  of  roving  and  robbery,  and 
had  great  contempt  for  those  who  tilled  the  soil  and  had 
adopted  the  worship  of  the  Christian  God. 

The  first  footholds  upon  foreign  soil  secured  by  the 
Northmen  were  to  the  south  of  the  continent,  \vhere 
they  met  less  resistance  than  they  had  received  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  They  seized  the  Walcheren  Islands 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  Betau  in  the  Rhine,  the 
Wahal  and  the  Lech  in  the  Seine,  and  Noirmoutier  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Loire.  In  840  they  burned  Rouen 
and  in  843  they  sacked  Nantes,  Saintes,  and  Bordeaux 
and  entered  the  Mediterranean.  They  besieged  the 
walls  of  Paris  repeatedly,  once  at  a  memorable  siege  in 
885,  and  sacked  Tours,  Orleans,  and  Toulouse.  They 
ascended  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse  in  851  and  devas- 
tated their  shores.  Then  a  royal  edict  ordered  the 
Counts  and  vassals  of  the  King  to  repair  old  castles  and 
build  new  ones,  and  soon  the  country  was  fortified 
and  the  invaders,  halted  at  each  point,  wished  to  settle 


BEGINNINGS  OF  MODERN  NATIONS       35: 

in  some  place  secure  and  arable,  rather  than  continue 
the  warfare.  Neustria  was  given  them  in  911.  Their 
devastations,  continuing  for  three-fourths  of  a  century, 
had  prepared  for  the  rise  of  feudalism. 

The  Northmen  robbed  France  and  the  Netherlands 
of  both  safety  and  a  part  of  their  wealth.  In  England 
they  took  away  independence  as  well.  The  Saxon 
heptarchy  in  827  was  a  single  monarchy  under  Egbert 
the  Great,  who  repulsed  the  first  Danes  attacking  his 
shores.  After  his  reign  the  Danes  occupied  North- 
umberland, East  Anglia,  and  Mercia.  For  seven  years 
Alfred  the  Great,  on  the  throne  of  Wessex,  carried  on 
a  deadly  struggle  with  the  entrenched  Danes,  and  at 
length  concluded  a  treaty  of  partition  at  the  peace  of 
Wedmore  (878),  surrendering  to  the  Danes  the  north 
and  east  of  England,  to  be  held  by  them  as  vassals  of 
the  Saxon  King.  The  supremacy  of  Wessex  was  thus 
secured  and  ripened  in  the  following  reigns  into  some- 
thing like  imperial  authority.  The  main  features  of  the 
organization  given  the  Kingdom  by  Alfred  have  been 
preserved.  These  are:  division  of  the  country  into 
counties;  justice  rendered  by  twelve — a  jury  of  twelve 
freeholders ;  general  affairs  decided  by  the  Witenage- 
mot,  an  assemblage  of  wise  men  aided  by  a  King,  half 
hereditary  and  half  elective.  The  development  of  the 
power  of  the  English  King  was  such  that  Edward  the 
Elder  was  recognized  not  only  as  overlord  of  Mercia 
and  Northumbria,  but  the  Welsh  Kings  swore  allegiance 
and  the  Kings  of  Scotland  and  Strathclyde  acknow- 
ledged him  as  their  father  and  lord.  Edward  treated 
on  equal  terms  and  contracted  alliances  with  the  great- 
est Princes  in  Europe.  Under  Athelstan  the  Saxon 
monarchy  was  at  the  height  of  its  power;  it  was  he  who 
dealt  a  death-blow  to  all  opponents  by  the  battle  of 


333      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Brunanburg  in  937  and  drove  the  Danes  from  England. 
But  they  soon  returned  under  the  leadership  of  Olaf, 
King  of  Norway,  and  Svveyn,  King  of  Denmark,  who 
carried  away  enormous  booty.  Gold  not  succeeding 
in  buying  them  off,  Ethelred  attempted  a  vast  counter- 
plot. All  the  Danes  in  England  were  massacred  on 
St.  Brice's  Day  (1002).  Sweyn  avenged  his  compatriots 
by  dethroning  Ethelred,  and  in  1013  he  assumed  the 
title  of  King  of  England.  Edmund  II,  known  as  Iron- 
sides, renewed  the  struggle  against  Canute  heroically 
but  futilely  (1017).  Gradually  all  of  the  country  sub- 
mitted to  the  rule  of  the  Danes.  At  first  Canute  was 
cruel,  but  became  a  milder  monarch,  and  by  marrying 
Emma,  widow  of  Ethelred,  he  united  conquerers  and 
conquered.  He  made  wise  laws  or  restored  those  of 
Alfred  the  Great,  prevented  the  Danes  from  oppressing 
the  English,  sent  Saxon  missionaries  to  Scandinavia  to 
aid  in  the  fall  of  decadent  paganism,  and  in  1027  made 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  where  he  promised  in  the  name 
of  England  to  pay  an  annual  tax,  known  as  St.  Peter's 
pence,  annually  to  the  Pope. 

Thus  in  France  the  Northmen  had  taken  only  a 
province.  In  England  they  took  a  Kingdom.  For  the 
rest  on  both  sides  of  the  channel  these  robbers  showed 
the  same  aptitude  for  civilization,  and  these  ferocious 
pagans  became  excellent  Christians.  In  Normandy, 
Rollo  made  a  severe  judge,  and  Canute  deserved  the  name 
of  Great. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER 

We  have  seen  how  Christianity  became  the  religion 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  Catholic  Church  in  the 
Western  Empire  had  for  its  head  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
to  whose  authority  disputants  appealed  for  decision,  and 
oppressed  persons  for  advocacy  and  protection.  This 
influential  position  of  the  hierarch  of  Rome  grew  by 
degrees  into  a  spiritual  ascendency  unequaled  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  and  still  flourishing  in  full  vigor. 
Macaulay  has  declared  that  "there  is  not,  and  there  never 
was  on  this  earth,  a  work  of  human  policy  so  well  de- 
serving of  examination  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
The  history  of  that  church  joins  together  the  two  great 
ages  of  human  civilization.  No  other  institution  is  left 
standing  which  carries  the  mind  back  to  the  times  when 
the  smoke  of  sacrifice  rose  from  the  Pantheon,  and  when 
camelopards  and  tigers  bounded  in  the  Flavian  amphi- 
theater. .  .  .  The  Church  of  Rome  saw  the  com- 
mencement of  all  the  governments  and  of  all  the  eccle- 
siastical establishments  that  now  exist  in  the  world,  and 
we  feel  no  assurance  that  she  is  not  destined  to  see  the 
end  of  them  all.  She  was  great  and  respected  before 
the  Saxon  had  set  foot  in  Britain,  before  the  Frank  had 
passed  the  Rhine,  when  Grecian  eloquence  still  flour- 
ished in  Antioch,  when  idols  were  still  worshiped  in  the 
temple  of  Mecca." 

It  was  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire  that  first  gave 
a  virtually  political  standing  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  A 
decree  of  the  Emperor  Valentinian  III  in  A.  D.  445  had 
acknowledged  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  primate,  and  as 

333 


334      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

the  last  tribunal  of  appeal  from  the  other  bishops, 
though  the  Eastern  Church  always  resisted  this  claim  of 
the  See  of  Rome.  Still  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  the 
leading  personage  in  that  city  which  had  been  the  capi- 
tal of  the  world,  and  when,  under  Justinian,  the  Eastern 
Empire  gained  dominion  over  Italy,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment was  not  at  Rome,  but  at  Ravenna,  and  the  moral 
influence  of  the  Roman  Bishop  continued  to  grow. 

From  the  title  Pontifex  Maximus  (the  chief  official 
of  the  old  Pagan  religion  of  Rome)  he  came  to  be  called 
Pontiff;  while  the  word  Pope  is  derived  from  Papa, 
"Father,"  being  appropriated  to  the  Roman  Pontiff  (hav- 
ing previously  been  given  to  all  bishops)  by  a  decree  of 
Gregory  VII  (Pope  1073-1085)  with  the  prefixed  epithet 
sanctus,  "holy/'  whence  the  modern  phrase  "His  Holi- 
ness the  Pope."  The  spiritual  authority  of  the  Popes 
was  increased  in  the  establishment  of  new  churches  in 
Britain  and  Germany  by  missionaries  sent  forth  from 
Rome,  and  both  the  spiritual  and  political  influence  of 
the  See  grew  through  the  personal  ascendency  of  such 
Popes  as  Leo  the  Great  in  the  Fifth  Century,  the  zeal- 
ous, good,  and  able  Gregory  the  Great  in  the  Sixth,  and 
Leo  III  in  the  Eighth. 

The  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy  really  began 
about  the  middle  of  the  Eighth  Century,  when  Pepin 
the  Short  (son  of  Charles  Martel)  was  crowned  "King 
of  the  Franks,"  or  "King  of  Francia,"  by  Pope  Stephen 
III  in  753.  Pepin,  on  his  side,  helped  the  Pope  against 
the  Lombards,  and,  after  checking  the  progress  of  their 
arms,  bestowed  on  the  Pope  the  territory  known  as  the 
Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  exarch  having  been  the  title 
given  by  Justinian  to  the  official  who  governed  central 
Italy  as  a  province  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  This  trans- 
action, which  founded  the  temporal  authority  of  the 


GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER          335 

Church  of  Rome,  is  famous  in  history  as  the  "Donation 
of  Pepin."  This  gift  of  Pepin's  was  confirmed  to  the 
Popes  by  his  son  Charles  the  Great,  who  overthrew  the 
Lombard  Kingdom  in  Italy,  and  was  crowned  King  of 
Italy  and  then  Emperor  of  the  West  in  A.  D.  800. 

During  the  period  of  confusion  which  followed  the 
death  of  the  great  Karl,  the  power  of  the  Papacy  was 
growing,  and  the  Popes  exercised  a  great  influence  in 
political  affairs,  especially  through  the  spiritual  terrors 
of  excommunication  which  they  wielded  against  sov- 
ereigns and  their  subjects.  In  865  Pope  Nicholas  I  en- 
forced an  edict,  in  a  matter  of  divorce,  against  Lothaire, 
King  of  Lorraine;  in  875  Pope  John  VIII,  in  conferring 
the  imperial  crown  on  Charles  the  Bald,  made  him 
acknowledge  the  independence  of  the  Roman  See.  A 
period  of  weakness  and  anarchy  for  the  Papacy  followed, 
owing  to  the  violence  of  feudal  lords  in  Italy,  who 
appointed  and  deposed  Popes  at  will.  The  Emperor 
Otho  the  Great  (ruled  936  to  973)  put  the  imperial 
power  for  a  time  above  the  Papal  by  deposing  Pope 
John  XII,  causing  his  successor  Leo  VIII  to  swear 
obedience  and  fidelity,  and  putting  down  effectually  the 
resistance  made  by  the  Roman  nobility  and  clergy.  At 
a  later  period  the  Popes  asserted  themselves  with  suc- 
cess against  the  Emperors,  and  after  many  bitter  dis- 
putes and  fluctuations  of  superiority  from  Pope  to 
Emperor  and  Emperor  to  Pope,  a  crisis  came  in  the 
papacy  of  the  famous  Hildebrand,  who  became  Pope 
Gregory  VII  in  A.  D.  1073. 

Gregory  VII  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  the  greatest  Pope  in  the  history  of 
the  See  of  Rome.  It  was  the  chief  object  of  his  life  to 
make  the  ecclesiastical  power  entirely  independent  of 
the  temporal.  Of  humble  birth,  by  his  ability  and 


33$      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

energy  he  rose  to  be  Cardinal  in  1049.  From  this  time 
Hildebrand  was  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  papacy.  Under 
Pope  Nicholas  II  (1058-1061)  he  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  mode  of  election  of  the  Pontiffs,  so  that, 
the  cardinals  alone  could  nominate,  and  the  clergy  and 
people  of  Rome  were  deprived  of  their  votes.  When 
Cardinal  Hildebrand  became  Pope  Gregory  VII  in  1073, 
he  set  to  work  at  carrying  out  his  idea  of  a  theocracy  in 
which  the  Pope  should  be  the  chief  temporal,  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical,  ruler  of  the  world.  In  order  to  concen- 
trate the  energies  of  the  clergy  upon  their  sacred  duties 
and  the  interests  of  the  church,  he  prohibited  the  mar- 
riage of  priests.  He  then  took  from  the  sovereign 
Princes  their  right  of  investiture — that  is,  the  right  of 
investing  with  their  offices  the  higher  clergy  in  their 
dominions — the  right  of  conferring  the  title  and  the 
church  lands  upon  bishops  and  abbots,  by  the  giving  of 
a  crozier  and  a  ring. 

This  latter  decree  (issued  in  1075)  at  once  brought 
Gregory  VII  into  conflict  with  the  Emperor  Henry 
IV  of  Germany.  Henry  supported  several  German 
bishops  whom  Gregory  had  deposed,  and  was  sum- 
moned to  appear  before  a  council  at  Rome.  Henry 
called  a  council  at  Worms  and  had  a  sentence  of  depo- 
sition passed  against  Gregory,  who  retorted  by  excom- 
municating the  Emperor,  and  releasing  his  subjects 
and  vassals  from  their  oath  of  allegiance.  Henry  IV 
found  himself  helpless,  and  in  1077  made  his  humiliat- 
ing submission  at  Canossa.  The  Emperor's  friends 
then  gained  the  upper  hand,  and  Gregory,  driven  from 
Rome,  died  at  Salerno  in  1085. 

The  quarrel  about  investitures — really  involving  the 
right  of  temporal  sovereigns  to  be  supreme  in  ecclesi- 
astical appointments  within  their  own  dominions — long 


GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER         337 

.survived  both  Gregory  and  Henry,  and,  as  far  as  Ger- 
many was  concerned,  ended  in  1122  by  the  Emperor 
Henry  V  surrendering  his  claim  of  investiture  to  the 
Pope,  so  far  as  the  ecclesiastical  office  was  concerned, 
while  the  bishops  were  to  receive  the  temporalities 
(church  lands  and  revenues)  from  the  hands  of  the  Em- 
peror as  the  feudal  superior.  The  history  of  England 
contains  one  of  these  Papal  claims  in  the  quarrel 
between  Pope  Innocent  III  and  King  John.  As  usual 
in  these  conflicts  between  the  higher  powers,  it  was  the 
people  who  suffered.  The  minor  Princes  of  the  Empire 
and  their  feudal  subjects  were  distracted  between  their 
civil  duty  to  the  Emperor  and.  their  religious  fear  of  the 
Pope,  and,  after  infinite  disorder  and  suffering,  neither 
side  was  really  victor  in  a  strife  which,  if  a  wise  discrimi- 
nation had  been  exercised,  would  never  have  begun. 
Innocent  III  (Pope  1198-1216)  is  held  to  have  made 
the  Papacy  more  powerful  than  at  any  other  time.  He 
constituted  himself  feudal  lord  of  Rome  and  the  sur- 
rounding territory;  and,  in  compelling  the  submission  of 
John  of  England,  showed  forth  the  See  of  Rome  as 
possessed  of  a  supreme  sovereignty. 

The  crusade  against  the  heretics  called  Albigenses 
is  a  striking  proof  of  the  power  wielded  by  the  Popes 
in  that  age.  Toward  the  close  of  the  Twelfth  Century 
a  sect  of  early  Protestants  existed  in  the  County  of 
Toulouse.  They  were  called  Albigenses,  from  the  town 
of  Alby,  northeast  of  the  city  of  Toulouse.  The  region 
in  which  they  dwelt  was  at  that  time  the  most  civilized 
and  flourishing  part  of  western  Europe,  the  fruitful  and 
well-cultivated  Languedoc,  abounding  in  corn  fields  and 
vineyards,  rich  cities,  and  stately  castles.  The  civiliza- 
tion of  Languedoc  was  distinguished  by  freedom  of 

thought,  which  permitted  friendly  intercourse  with  the 
Voi,.  i — 22 


338      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIJEVAL  HISTORY 

Moors  of  Spain,  and  brought  to  the  north  of  the  Pyre- 
nees the  mathematical  and  medical  science  of  the  schools 
of  Granada  and  Cordova.  A  flourishing  trade  was  car- 
ried on  by  merchants  from  the  Eastern  Empire  at 
Toulouse  and  at  Narbonne,  and  these  traders  appear  to 
have  introduced,  along  with  their  wares,  doctrines  re- 
sembling those  of  modern  Protestantism,  and  regarded 
as  deadly  heresy  by  the  Papal  See.  Pope  Innocent  III 
resolved  to  meet  the  evil  with  the  sword,  and  called  the 
warriors  of  northern  France  to  his  aid.  The  Spanish 
monk  Dominic  (the  famous  founder  of  the  order  of  the 
Dominicans)  was  employed  to  preach  a  "crusade" 
against  the  Albigenses,  and  Simon  de  Montfort  (father 
of  the  great  Earl  of  Leicester)  headed  the  expedition 
against  the  heretics.  Raymond  VI,  Count  of  Tou- 
louse, refused  at  first  to  join  in  the  extirpation  of  heresy 
by  the  slaughter  of  his  best  subjects,  but  was  induced 
to  submit  and  to  take  part  in  the  attack  upon  the  strong- 
holds of  the  new  faith.  The  war  began  in  1209;  town 
after  town  was  taken  and  burnt  by  the  crusaders,  and 
fire  and  slaughter  sped  throughout  the  land.  Peace 
was  not  made  until  1229,  when  heresy  was  extinguished 
by  the  killing  of  nearly  all  the  heretics,  and  the  power 
of  the  feudal  lords  in  that  region  was  ended  by  annexa- 
tion to  the  dominions  of  the  crown  of  France. 

It  was  in  connection  with  these  events  that  the  fa- 
mous Inquisition  had  its  rise,  the  institution  being 
started  by  Innocent  III  and  St.  Dominic,  for  the  seeking 
out  of  adherents  of  false  doctrines.  The  Dominican  and 
Franciscan  monks  were  the  first  instruments  employed 
for  this  purpose.  The  power  of  the  Papacy  reached  its 
height  during  the  two  generations  which  followed  the 
Albigensian  crusade. 


THE   CRUSADES 

During  two  hundred  years — including  the  whole  of 
the  Twelfth  and  the  Thirteenth  centuries — European 
history  is  greatly  concerned  with  the  series  of  expedi- 
tions known  as  the  Crusades.  The  word  crusade  means 
"war  of  the  cross,"  from  the  French  croisade  (Provencal 
crozada,  from  croz,  Latin  crux,  a  cross).  The  main 
object  of  the  enterprise  thus  undertaken  by  the  wrestern 
nations  of  Europe  was  to  recover  the  Holy  Land — Pal- 
estine— from  the  Saracens  and  Turks.  A  craving  seems 
to  have  arisen  in  Christendom  at  the  end  of  the  Eleventh 
Century,  for  the  possession  of  those  sacred  places  in 
Palestine  where  Christ,  whose  vicar  on  earth  the  Pope 
claimed  and  was  held  to  be,  might  be  regarded  as  more 
especially  present  to  believers.  Pilgrims  in  crowds  had 
resorted  to  those  holy  places,  but  the  hallowed  spots 
themselves  were  in  the  hands  of  infidels,  and  it  was  felt 
as  a  reproach  to  Christendom  that  the  sepulcher  of 
Christ,  in  particular,  was  not  in  possession  of  the  church. 
We  must,  as  a  preliminary  to  some  account  of  the  Cru- 
sades, glance  at  the  position  of  the  Eastern  Empire  and 
of  the  Mohammedans  in  the  East  at  this  time. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  Ninth  Century  much  of  its 
former  power  was  recovered  by  the  Eastern  Empire  under 
Emperors  of  the  Macedonian  or  Basilian  dynasty,  founded 
in  867  by  Basilius,  a  Macedonian  of  low  birth  and  great 
ability,  who  had  worked  his  way  to  the  throne  by  a  series 
of  crimes.  The  city  of  Antioch  and  other  important 
places  were  recovered  from  the  now  divided  Saracens,  and 
a  large  part  of  the  west  of  Asia  was  again  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Emperors  at  Constantinople. 

339 


340      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

A  change  came  in  the  middle  of  the  Eleventh  Century, 
•when  the  Turks,  under  the  rule  of  the  house  of  Seljuk, 
began  to  be  formidable.  A  conqueror  named  Alp  Arslan, 
leader  of  the  Seljukian  Turks,  defeated  the  Byzantine 
forces  in  1071  at  the  battle  of  Manzikert  so  decisively,  as 
to  become  master  of  most  of  Asia  Minor.  Here,  in  1092, 
was  established  the  Sultanate  of  Roum  (Rome),  with  its 
capital  first  at  Nicaea  in  Bithynia,  and  then  at  Iconium. 
The  seat  of  the  Seljukian  dynasty  of  Roum  was  thus 
planted  only  100  miles  from  Constantinople,  and  the  divin- 
ity of  Christ  was  denied  and  derided  in  the  same  temple 
in  which  it  had  been  solemnly  declared  by  the  First  General 
Council  (of  Nice,  whence  our  Nicene  creed)  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  The  Christian  city  of  Antioch  was  soon  after- 
ward betrayed  to  the  Mohammedans,  and  a  still  more  im- 
portant acquisition  of  the  Seljukian  Turks  was  to  follow. 
This  was  the  conquest  of  Syria  and  Palestine  from  the 
Caliph  who  had  ruled  there  with  mildness  and  tolerance, 
and  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem  now  fell  into  the  hands  of 
those  who  insulted  the  resident  Christian  clergy  and  the 
faith  of  the  Western  world.  At  this,  as  Gibbon  says  (now 
that  "a  new  spirit  had  arisen  of  religious  chivalry  and 
papal  dominion"),  "  a  nerve  was  touched  of  exquisite  feel- 
ing, and  the  sensation  vibrated  to  the  heart  of  Europe." 

A  French  monk  of  Amiens,  famous  forevermore  as 
"Peter  the  Hermit,"  kindled  the  scattered  sparks  of  reli- 
gious and  chivalric  enthusiasm  into  a  wide-spread  raging 
flame.  This  man,  like  St.  Paul,  was  of  small  stature  and 
contemptible  presence,  but  he  had  a  fiery  eye  and 
vehement  speech,  well  fitted  to  rouse  mankind  to  action. 
He  went  to  Jerusalem  a  pilgrim;  he  saw  the  state  of  the 
Holy  City;  he  felt  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  Turks;  he 
returned  to  Europe  a  complete  and  irrepressible  fanatic. 

Pope  Urban  the  Second  encouraged  Peter  in  his  pro- 


THE  CRUSADES  341 

ject  of  delivering  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  hermit  sped 
through  Italy  and  France,  everywhere  preaching  a  crusade 
for  the  rescue  of  the  sepulchre  of  Christ  from  the  hands 
of  the  infidels.  With  head  bare,  feet  naked,  and  lean  body 
clad  in  coarsest  robe,  riding  an  ass,  and  bearing  a  massive 
crucifix,  he  preached  to  crowds  in  streets  and  highways, 
calling  all  to  repentance  and  to  arms.  He  was  welcome 
alike  to  castle  and  to  cottage;  his  picture  of  the  pilgrims' 
woes  melted  all  souls  to  pity  and  filled  all  eyes  with  tears 
or  hearts  with  wrath.  The  ready  fuel  of  religious  zeal 
was  soon  everywhere  kindled — the  time  of  the  Crusades, 
in  a  word,  had  fully  come.  The  feudal  warriors  of  the  age 
were  eager  to  draw  the  sword  for  the  defense  of  their 
brethren  in  Palestine  and  the  rescue  of  their  Savior's  tomb 
from  desecration;  and  all  that  was  now  needed  was  to 
organize  and  direct  the  mighty  force  which  had  been  called 
forth  to  battle  with  the  infidels  in  the  distant  East. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1095  the  Pope  (Urban  II) sum- 
moned a  great  council  at  Clermont,  in  the  south  of  France. 
This  was  attended  by  the  Cardinals,  hundreds  of  Prelates, 
and  a  great  train  of  lords  and  knights,  whom  the  Pope 
addressed  in  a  stirring  speech,  which  found  an  instant 
response.  When  from  the  thousands  of  hearers  the  cry 
arose  "God  wills  it,"  uttered  in  the  corrupted  Latin  (Dieux 
el  volt  and  Deus  lo  volt)  of  Northern  and  Provencal 
France,  the  orator  cried  out,  "It  is  indeed  the  will  of  God, 
and  let  this  memorable  word  be  forever  adopted  as  your 
cry  of  battle  to  animate  the  devotion  and  courage  of  the 
champions  of  Christ.  His  cross  is  the  symbol  of  your 
salvation;  wear  it,  a  red,  a  bloody  cross,  as  an  external 
mark  on  your  breasts  or  shoulders,  as  a  pledge  of  your 
sacred  and  irrevocable  engagement."  The  suggestion 
was  adopted,  and  the  red  cross  of  the  Crusaders  was  soon 
everywhere  seen.  The  time  for  the  starting  of  the  great 


342      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

expedition  to  the  East  was  fixed  for  the  festival  of  the 
Assumption — August  I5th  in  the  following  year,  A.  D. 
1096. 

At  the  Council  of  Clermont,  Pope  Urban  II  had  pro- 
claimed for  those  who  should  enlist  under  the  banner  of 
the  Cross  forgiveness  of  all  sins,  and  a  full  freedom  from 
all  penances  due  to  the  church.  War  and  enterprise  being 
the  prevailing  passions  of  the  age,  the  people  were  now 
enjoined,  as  a  penance,  to  gratify  those  passions,  to  visit 
distant  lands,  and  to  draw  their  swords  against  the  nations 
of  the  East. 

The  impatience  of  the  ruder  classes  anticipated  the 
appointed  time,  and  in  the  early  spring  of  A.  D.  1096, 
nearly  250,000  pilgrims,  including  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, gathered  round  Peter  the  Hermit  in  the  east  of 
France,  and  called  upon  him  to  take  the  command.  Before 
sweeping  through  Germany  along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine 
and  Danube,  this  horde  of  fanatics  and  ruffians  attacked 
the  colonies  of  wealthy  Jews  in  the  trading  towns  on  the 
Moselle  and  the  Rhine.  This  roused  against  them  the 
native  ferocity  of  the  Hungarians  and  Bulgarians,  and 
only  a  remnant  of  the  whole  body  crossed  the  Bosphorus 
at  Constantinople,  and  that  to  be  destroyed  by  the  Turks 
of  Asia  Minor.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  had 
thus  perished  without  the  slightest  result  as  to  the  real 
object  of  the  Crusade. 

The  practical  Crusaders  were  of  a  very  different  class, 
and  went  to  work  after  due  and  careful  preparations. 
None  of  the  great  sovereigns  of  Europe  took  part  in  this 
First  Crusade.  The  leaders  were  the  feudal  princes  of 
the  second  order.  The  first  rank  both  in  war  and  council 
is  to  be  given  to  the  famous  hero  Godfrey  of  Bouillon. 
This  brave  and  accomplished  soldier  was  a  descendant  of 
Charles  the  Great  in  the  female  line,  and  was  a  worthy 


THE  CRUSADES  343 

representative  of  such  an  ancestor.  His  valor  was  tem- 
pered by  prudence.  His  piety  was  sincere;  his  life  virtu- 
ous; his  aim,  in  joining  the  expedition,  single  and  disinter- 
ested. His  character  and  fame  brought  under  his  ban- 
ners, from  France,  Lorraine,  and  Germany,  an  army  of 
80,000  foot  and  10,000  horse. 

Among  the  other  chiefs  were  Robert,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, Count  Hugh  of  Vermandois  (in  French  Flan- 
ders), Count  Robert  of  Flanders,  and  Stephen,  Count  of 
Chartres.  These  were  the  leaders  of  the  French,  the 
Normans,  and  some  Crusaders  from  the  British  Isles. 
Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse  headed  an  army  of  100,000 
horse  and  foot  from  Languedoc,  Provence,  Burgundy,  and 
Lombardy.  From  Southern  Italy  Bohemond,  son  of  the 
famous  Norman  chief  Robert  Guiscard,  Duke  of  Apulia, 
led  10,000  horse  and  20,000  foot,  and  that  model  of  Chris- 
tian knighthood,  the  great  Tancred,  the  hero  of  Tasso's 
poem  Gerusalemme  Liberata  ("Jerusalem  Delivered"), 
accompanied  his  cousin  Bohemond.  In  all,  six  armies, 
numbering  600,000  men,  started  by  different  routes  for 
Constantinople. 

After  various  obstacles,  and  losses  by  land  and  sea, 
and  difficulties  with  the  Greek  Emperor  Alexius  Comne- 
nus,  who  feared  for  himself  as  to  the  possible  doings  of 
the  Western  Princes,  a  great  host  of  Crusaders  arrived  in 
Asia  Minor  in  the  spring  of  1097.  The  main  strength  of 
the  army  consisted  in  the  mail-clad  horsemen,  said  to  have 
numbered  100,000 — the  flower  of  European  chivalry, 
knights,  esquires,  and  men-at-arms,  protected  by  helmet 
and  shield,  and  chain  and  scale-armor,  and  armed  with 
lance,  sword,  battle-axe,  and  heavy  mace  or  club.  The 
footmen  consisted  chiefly  of  archers,  provided  with  the 
long  bow  and  the  cross-bow.  The  body  of  cavalry,  on 
which  the  Crusaders  relied  to  overcome  the  Turks,  was  of 


344      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

the  most  formidable  force  and  the  most  splendid  appear- 
ance. The  horses  were  of  a  large  and  heavy  breed,  and 
when  the  rider,  fixing  his  long  lance  in  the  rest,  spurred 
his  steed  onward  at  full  pace,  the  light  Eastern  horse  could 
not  stand  against  the  weight  of  such  a  charge.  The  fol- 
lowers of  each  feudal  chieftain  were  distinguished  by  his 
banner,  his  armorial  coat,  and  his  special  war-cry,  and  the 
armor  of  the  leaders  was  bright  with  gold,  gems,  and  color. 

The  first  work  of  the  Crusaders  was  to  attack  the  Turk- 
ish capital,  Nice,  or  Nicaea  (Nikaia),  in  the  northwest  of 
Asia  Minor.  The  Turkish  Sultan,  Soliman,  kept  watch 
from  the  hills  with  a  large  force  of  cavalry,  while  the  Cru- 
saders for  seven  weeks  (May  and  June,  1097)  assailed  the 
town  with  the  old  Roman  engines  and  methods — the  bat- 
tering-ram and  mine,  movable  tower,  catapult,  balista,  and 
sling — with  the  more  modern  inventions  of  artificial  fire 
and  the  cross-bow.  The  famous  Greek  fire  was  a  com- 
position invented  by  a  Greek  in  the  Seventh  Century  A. 
D.  It  was  used,  wrapped  in  flax,  attached  to  arrows  and 
javelins,  to  fire  buildings,  and  was  very  difficult  to  extin- 
guish. When  Nice  was  fully  invested  by  the  Crusaders, 
the  city  surrendered  to  the  Greek  Emperor,  Alexius,  who 
treated  the  infidels  with  a  generosity  displeasing  to  the 
fanatical  Crusaders. 

When  the  invading  army  began  its  march  southeast- 
ward through  Asia  Minor,  on  its  way  to  the  Syrian  fron- 
tier, Soliman  called  round  him  all  his  allies,  and  attacked 
the  Crusaders  with  an  immense  force  of  his  light  cavalry, 
armed  with  the  javelin,  the  crooked  sabre,  and  the  long 
Tartar  bow.  The  battle  of  Dorylaeum,  in  Phrygia,  fought 
in  July,  1097,  ended  at  last,  after  a  great  effort  of  valor 
on  both  sides,  in  the  complete  defeat  of  the  infidels.  The 
weight  of  the  Crusaders'  horses  and  equipments  was  more 
than  a  match  for  Asiatic  quickness  and  skill,  and  the  re- 


THE  CRUSADES  345 

suits  of  the  victory  were  the  taking  of  Soliman's  camp  with 
a  great  booty,  and  his  abandonment  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Roum,  leaving  the  way  open  into  Syria. 

Retreating  before  the  advancing  columns  of  Crusad- 
ers, Soliman  laid  all  the  country  waste,  so  that  the  invad- 
ers, as  they  passed  through  Phrygia,  Pisidia,  and  Pam- 
phylia,  suffered  fearfully  from  hunger,  thirst,  and  toil. 
They  thus  lost  thousands  of  the  men  as  well  as  a  large 
part  of  the  horses  which  bore  the  mail-clad  warriors, 
forced  now  to  stagger  onward  on  unwonted  weary  feet. 

The  Crusaders  at  last  arrived  (October,  1097)  before 
the  city  of  Antioch,  the  great  and  populous  capital  of 
Syria,  defended  by  the  river  Orontes,  by  marshes,  hilly 
ground,  and  a  solid  stately  wall.  For  seven  months  the 
place  was  beleaguered  in  vain  by  the  crusading  host,  desti- 
tute alike  of  the  implements  and  of  the  skill  for  besieging 
(which  at  Nicaea  had  been  supplied  by  the  Greek  Emper- 
or's assistance),  and  the  losses  of  the  army  by  desertion, 
famine,  and  fatigue  were  very  serious.  Their  cavalry 
had  almost  disappeared  from  loss  of  horses,  and  little 
progress  had  been  made  in  the  enterprise,  when  Bohemond 
the  Norman  managed  to  effect  an  entrance  by  surprise, 
assisted  by  treachery  within  the  walls.  Antioch  was  taken 
thus  one  dark  and  stormy  night  in  June,  1098. 

The  captors  of  Antioch  were  then  besieged  in  turn  by 
a  great  host  of  infidels  dispatched  to  aid  the  cause  of  Islam 
by  a  Persian  Sultan.  Famine  within  the  walls  was  rife, 
for  the  Crusaders,  in  spite  of  their  religious  aims,  had  lived 
for  months  outside  the  walls  in  luxury  and  waste  and  riot, 
expiated  now  by  pestilence  and  hunger.  Despair  at  last 
gave  strength  to  starved  and  sickly  men,  and  superstition 
lent  her  aid  in  the  opportune  discovery,  within  the  walls  of 
Antioch,  of  the  famous  Holy  Lance,  a  spear-head  stated  to 
be  that  which  pierced  the  side  of  Christ,  With  this  sacred 


346      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

relic  in  their  midst,  and  headed  by  the  truly  noble  Godfrey 
of  Bouillon,  the  chivalrous  Tancred,  and  the  brave  and 
able,  if  ambitious,  Bohemond,  the  Crusaders  made  a  sortie, 
and  by  determined  fighting  drove  the  besiegers  from  the 
ground,  and  cleared  the  way  for  a  march  upon  the  holy 
city. 

The  hundreds  of  thousands  of  invading  Christians  who 
had  been  present  at  the  siege  of  Nicaea  were  now,  in  July, 

1098,  reduced  to  a  few  hundreds  of  cavalry,  and  about 
20,000  foot.     This  was  the  work  of  war,  disease,  and 
famine;  this  the  result  of  desertion,  and  of  the  detachment 
of  large  forces  from  the  main  army  by  the  action  of  self- 
interested  leaders.     Of  these  one,  named  Baldwin,  had 
gone  eastward  to  found  at  Edessa,  in  Mesopotamia,  a 
Christian  Kingdom  which  lasted  until  1151.     Bohemond 
the  Norman  stayed  behind  as  possessor  and    Prince   of 
Antioch;  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse  had  gone  off  on  a 
foray  into  the  interior  of  Syria.     It  was  not  until  May, 

1099,  that  the  scanty  force  just  named,  with  a  crowd  of 
camp  followers  and  pilgrims,  started  from  Antioch  for 
the  object  of  the  whole  expedition — the  goal  to  win  which 
such  enormous  efforts  had  been  spent — the  holy  city. 

The  path  of  the  Crusaders  lay  along  the  shore  of  Syria, 
between  Mount  Lebanon  and  the  sea,  on  which  they  were 
attended  by  the  coasting  traders  from  Genoa  and  Pisa. 
Through  Sidon,  Tyre,  Acre,  and  Csesarea,  they  passed 
amidst  the  relics  of  old  Phoenician  glory,  and  then  turned 
inland  for  Jerusalem,  by  Lydda,  Emmaus,  and  other  scenes 
of  sacred  history  and  legend.  Early  in  June,  1099,  they 
came  in  sight  of  what  so  many  had  desired  and  striven  to 
behold,  but  so  few  were  left  to  gaze  on  with  delighted  eyes. 
In  full  view  of  the  sacred  site  (then  covered,  after  a  period 
of  desolation,  by  the  buildings  erected  since  the  great  rebel- 
lion against  Hadrian  in  A.  D.  131)  of  that  Jerusalem  of 


THE  CRUSADES  347 

old,  where  things  so  wondrous  and  so  awful  had  been  done 
in  sight  of  earth  and  heaven,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  foot- 
sore soldiers  of  the  cross  burst  out  in  cries  and  even  tears 
of  joy,  from  men  prostrated  to  their  knees  in  worship  and 
thanksgiving. 

The  holy  city  was  at  this  time  in  possession,  not  of  the 
Turks,  but  of  the  Saracens  of  Egypt,  whose  Caliph  had 
conquered  Palestine  three  years  before.  With  a  powerful 
garrison  the  Caliph's  Governor  was  ready  for  a  stout 
defense.  The  Crusaders  attacked  the  northern  and  west- 
ern sides  of  the  city,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon's  standard  float- 
ing from  the  lower  slope  of  Calvary.  After  the  repulse 
of  a  rash  assault,  some  suffering  from  thirst,  and  a  siege 
of  forty  days  in  all,  the  moving  tower  of  Godfrey  was  suc- 
cessfully used  against  the  walls.  "The  archers  in  the  tur- 
ret cleared  the  rampart  of  the  foe,  the  drawbridge  was  let 
down,  and  on  a  Friday  afternoon  at  three  o'clock,  Godfrey 
of  Bouillon  stood  victorious  on  the  walls,"  and  the  Cru- 
saders then  stormed  the  place  on  every  side.  Thus  was 
Jerusalem  recaptured  by  the  Christians  463  years  after  its 
seizure  by  the  Mohammedans  under  the  Arabian  Caliph 
Omar  in  636.  This  great  result  was  due,  along  with  the 
valor  of  the  gallant  Godfrey,  to  the  energy  of  Tancred  in 
providing  wood  for  the  tower,  the  skill  and  industry  of  the 
Genoese  engineers  who  built  it,  and  the  ferocious  courage 
of  the  enthusiastic  Crusaders.  In  a  three  days'  massacre, 
during  which  70,000  Moslems  perished,  and  the  Jews  of 
the  place  were  burnt  alive  in  their  synagogues,  the  victors 
showed  their  zeal  for  their  religion,  and  then  did  homage 
to  the  God  of  Christians  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 

The  city  thus  recovered  for  Christianity  was  made, 
together  with  territory  to  the  north  and  south  thereof,  into 
the  Christian  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  The  chiefs  of  the 
Crusaders  elected  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  as  the  first  sov- 


348      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

ereign  of  the  new  dominion,  but  he  declined  the  title  and 
insignia  of  royalty,  and  styled  himself  simply,  "Defender 
arjd  Baron  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre."  This  worthiest  of  all 
Crusaders  lived  for  less  than  a  year,  beloved  and  honored 
in  his  office.  In  August,  1099,  Godfrey  utterly  defeated 
the  Sultan  of  Egypt  at  the  battle  of  Ascalon,  and  thus 
established  firmly  the  newly- founded  kingdom,  which  con- 
tinued for  nearly  a  century. 

Other  Latin  principalities  in  the  East  existed  at 
Antioch  and  at  Edessa,  and  between  the  new  kingdom 
and  Antioch  arose  the  County  of  Tripoli.  The  laws  and 
language,  the  manners  and  titles,  of  the  French  Nation  and 
the  Latin  Church,  were  introduced,  and  a  military  force 
was  maintained  as  a  defense,  constantly  needed,  against 
the  surrounding  swarms  of  Saracens  and  Turks. 

In  connection  with  the  new  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem, 
and  as  its  chief  defenders,  now  arose  the  great  orders  of 
religious  .knights,  as  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  or  Knights 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  Knights  Templars. 
These  orders  had  their  origin  in  the  peculiar  chivalric 
spirit  diffused  through  Europe  as  the  result  of  the  Cru- 
sade. According  to  the  view  of  Hegel,  the  German  phil- 
osopher, "The  ferocity  and  savage  valor  of  the  barbarian, 
pacified  already  by  civilization  and  social  life,  was  now 
elevated  by  religion  and  kindled  to  a  noble  enthusiasm 
through  contact  with  the  boundless  magnanimity  of 
Oriental  prowess.  These  orders  of  knighthood  were 
founded  on  a  basis  similar  to  that  of  the  monastic  fraterni- 
ties. They  had  the  same  vow  of  renunciation  of  the 
world.  At  the  same  time  they  undertook  the  defense  of 
the  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Land  as  they  passed  through 
Europe.  The  first  duty  was  the  display  of  knightly  brav- 
ery, afterward  they  were  pledged  to  sustain  and  to  care  for 
the  poor  and  the  sick.  Their  members  sacrificed  them- 


THE  CRUSADES  349 

selves  with  reckless  bravery  for  a  common  interest,  and 
formed  a  network  of  fraternal  coalition  all  over  Europe." 

An  immediate  result  of  the  First  Crusade  was  a  great 
extension  of  the  territory  belonging  to  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire. The  victory  of  Dorylaeum  gave  back  to  the  Com- 
nenian  dynasty  of  Constantinople  (reigned  1057  to  I2O4) 
all  the  west,  and  a  strip  in  the  northwest,  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  a  considerable  district  in  the  southeast,  and  forced 
the  Sultan  of  Roum  to  have  his  capital  at  Iconium,  in  the 
south  of  the  peninsula,  instead  of  at  Nicsea  (now belonging 
to  the  Greek  Emperor),  where  he  had  been  a  constant 
threat  to  Constantinople.  The  First  Crusade,  beyond 
doubt,  prevented  the  fall  of  the  declining  Empire  of  the 
East,  and  gave  it  a  new  lease  of  life. 

For  about  half  a  century  the  Christian  dominion  in  the 
East  maintained  itself  against  the  attacks  of  the  surround- 
ing Mohammedans.  Then  a  time  of  danger  came,  when 
strong  help  from  Europe  was  needed,  and  the  Second  Cru- 
sade took  place.  The  Christian  principality  of  Edessa,  in 
Mesopotamia,  was  seized  by  the  Turks  in  1145,  and  the 
Christians  were  put  to  death.  This  roused  much  feeling 
in  Europe,  and  the  Second  Crusade  was  organized  by 
Conrad  III,  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  Louis  VII  of 
France,  the  chief  sovereigns  of  the  time.  The  Preacher 
of  this  Crusade  (as  Peter  the  Hermit  had  been  of  the 
First  Crusade)  was  one  of  the  greatest  ecclesiastics  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  holy  and  earnest  St.  Bernard,  Abbot  of 
Clairvaux,  near  Langres,  in  the  east  of  France. 

A  force  of  over  300,000  men,  horse  and  foot,  took 
the  same  route  to  Constantinople  (in  1147)  as  the  earlier 
Crusaders.  Conrad  was  first  in  the  field,  accompanied 
by  the  Kings  of  Poland  and  Bohemia  and  many  feudal 
lords,  with  a  cloud  of  light-armed  troops,  women  and 
children,  priests  and  monks.  The  Greek  Emperor, 


Manuel  Comnenus,  behaved  with  gross  treachery  to  the 
forces  of  Conrad,  hampering  their  movements,  supply- 
ing bad  food  in  exchange  for  good  money,  giving  in- 
telligence of  their  coming  to  the  Turks,  and  furnishing 
guides  who  misled  their  march.  The  army  of  Conrad, 
when  he  arrived  in  Asia  Minor,  was  almost  destroyed  by 
fighting  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  by  the  hard- 
ships undergone,  and  a  small  remnant  only  returned  to 
Nicsea.  There  the  French  advancing  army,  under  Louis 
VII,  met  them,  and  the  march  through  Asia  Minor 
began.  The  result  was  a  total  failure.  The  Turks,  in 
overwhelming  numbers,  crushed  the  Christian  columns 
in  detail,  only  a  handful  of  the  great  host  at  last  reached 
Jerusalem,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  except  to 
return  ingloriously  to  Europe. 

Forty  years  passed  between  the  Second  and  Third 
Crusades.  During  this  time  the  power  of  the  Moham- 
medans in  the  East  had  been  growing  under  Nureddin, 
whose  Empire  at  last  extended  from  the  Tigris  to  the 
Nile.  A  new  power  had  also  arisen  in  Egypt.  A  Kur- 
dish chieftain  named  Saladin,  sprung  from  the  hardy, 
strong  savage,  plundering,  and  independent  tribes  in  the 
hilly  country  of  Kurdistan,  beyond  the  Tigris,  had  made 
himself  master  of  Egypt  by  sheer  force  of  genius  and 
character  in  1171,  and  on  the  death  of  Nureddin  in  1 174, 
Saladin  began  to  acquire  his  dominions.  The  invasion 
of  Palestine  in  1 187  was  soon  followed  by  the  capture  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  work  accomplished  by  the  First 
Crusade — the  Christian  possession  of  the  Holy  City — 
was  thus  completely  undone. 

Saladin  was  the  greatest  Mohammedan  ruler  of  his 
time,  and  one  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  characters  in 
the  whole  history  of  Islam.  Master  of  Egypt,  Syria, 
and  Arabia,  he  ruled  at  last,  in  power  and  wisdom,  an 


THE  CRUSADES  351 

Empire  extending  from  the  African  Tripoli  to  the 
Tigris,  and  from  the  mountains  pf  Armenia  to  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Pure  in  life,  rigid  in  the  Mohammedan 
faith  and  practice,  just  in  judgment,  courteous  in  de- 
meanor, boundless  in  liberality,  brave  as  a  lion  in  the 
field,  Saladin  shines  forth  as  the  brightest  example  of 
Oriental  knighthood. 

This  Third  Crusade  belongs  to  English  history,  from 
the  distinguished  part  played  in  the  expedition  by  Rich- 
ard I,  the  chivalrous  foe  and  admirer  (one  might  almost 
say — the  friend)  of  the  great  Saladin,  who  was  well 
worthy  of  the  steel  of  the  foremost  knight  of  Christen- 
dom. The  news  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  aroused  the 
fanaticism  of  Europe,  and  three  monarchs  prepared  to 
take  the  field  in  A.  D.  1189.  These  were  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  Frederick  Barbarossa;  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  and  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  of  England. 

Frederick  I  of  Germany  was  a  veteran  soldier,  and 
marched  overland  for  the  East  with  a  great  army  of 
horse  and  foot,  reaching  Asia  Minor  early  in  1190.  His 
army  was  then  attacked  by  immense  bodies  of  Turks, 
who  made  the  Crusaders  fight  all  the  way  during  a 
march  of  twenty  days,  when  they  reached  and  stormed 
the  capital,  Iconium.  The  way  to  Jerusalem  was  open, 
but  great  losses  had  been  incurred,  and  the  German 
expedition  was  virtually  brought  to  an  end  by  the  acci- 
dental drowning  of  the  Emperor  in  a  mountain  stream 
of  Cilicia. 

The  French  and  English  Crusaders  went  by  sea,  and 
their  doings  are  familiar  to  the  English-speaking  race 
through  the  career  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion.  This 
brilliant  but  fruitless  crusade  is  described  in  the  article  on 
its  hero  in  the  volume,  "World's  Famous  Warriors." 

It  ended  in  a  three  years'  truce  (concluded  in  1192) 


352      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

by  which  the  honor  of  the  English  King  was  saved  by 
stipulation  that  Acre,  Jaffa,  and  other  seaports  should 
remain  in  Christian  hands  and  pilgrims  should  be  unmo- 
lested in  their  visits  to  Jerusalem. 

The  Fourth  Crusade  has  an  importance  of  its  own, 
not  for  what  it  effected  against  the  Mohammedans  (for 
the  expedition  never  went  to  Palestine  at  all),  but  for 
what  occurred  at  Constantinople.  The  Greek  and  the 
Latin  churches  had  been  long  at  issue  on  theological 
points,  and  the  enmity  of  the  Christians  in  the  East  and 
the  West  of  Europe  had  been  increased  during  the  first 
three  Crusades,  though  one  result  of  the  fighting  of  the 
Western  warriors  had  been  the  partial  restoration  of  the 
Greek  dominion  in  Asia  Minor.  The  existing  hostility 
came  to  a  head  in  1203,  when  the  Crusaders  of  the 
fourth  expedition,  headed  by  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flan- 
ders, and  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  (in  Italy)  interfered 
in  the  dynastic  arrangements  of  the  Greek  Empire. 
This  was  resented  by  the  Greeks,  who  deposed  and 
killed  the  rulers  set  over  them  by  the  Crusaders,  and  the 
end  of  it  all  was  the  storming  of  Constantinople  in  1204 
by  a  combined  force  of  French  and  Venetians. 

The  Eastern  Empire  was  now  broken  up  for  a  time. 
The  Venetians  got  Crete  and  the  islands  in  the  south  of 
the  ^Egean  Sea  (the  Archipelago).  There  was  a  Greek 
Empire  still  round  Nicaea  or  Nice  in  the  northwest  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  another,  called  the  Empire  of  Trebiz- 
ond,  along  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  The 
Greek  dominion  also  included  Greece  and  Epirus.  The 
Latin  Kingdom  at  Constantinople  lasted  till  1261,  when 
Constantinople  was  won  back  by  the  Nicsean  Emperor, 
and  the  Eastern  Empire  continued  till  its  final  over- 
throw by  the  Ottoman  Turks  at  the  end  of  this  period  of 
history. 


THE  CRUSADES  353 

There  were  other  crusades  of  less  importance. 
In  1218  a  large  force  from  western  Europe  went  to 
Egypt,  and  captured  Damietta  after  a  long  siege,  but 
the  enterprise  ended  in  total  failure.  In  1228  Frederick 
II,  Emperor  of  Germany,  assumed  the  cross  (as  the 
phrase  was),  and  started  for  Palestine  with  a  powerful 
armament  from  the  harbors  of  Sicily  and  Apulia.  On 
his  arrival  in  the  Holy  Land  Frederick  entered  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  Mohammedan  ruler  surrendered  that 
and  some  other  cities  to  the  Christians;  this  state  of 
things  lasted  only  till  1243,  when  Palestine  was  over- 
whelmed by  an  invasion  of  fresh  hordes  of  Turks  from 
the  Caspian;  Jerusalem  has  never  since  been  a  Christian 
possession.  The  Seventh  and  Eighth  Crusades  were 
undertaken  by  Louis  IX  of  France.  In  A.  D.  1249  this 
virtuous  and  fanatical  sovereign  went  with  a  great  force 
against  Egypt,  hoping  to  win  his  way  thence  up  to  Jeru- 
salem. Damietta  was  at  once  captured,  but  sickness, 
famine,  and  the  Mohammedan  foe  proved  too  strong  at 
last,  and  Louis  was  taken  prisoner  and  obliged  to  pay 
ransom.  In  1270  St.  Louis  undertook  the  last  of  the 
Crusades,  one  in  which  English  warriors  joined.  On 
the  way  to  Palestine  the  French  King  turned  aside  to 
attack  the  Mohammedans  of  Tunis,  and  died  before  the 
walls,  of  disease.  Prince  Edward  (Edward  I)  of  Eng- 
land made  his  way  to  Palestine,  and  returned  after  some 
slight  successes.  In  1268  Antioch  was  finally  taken  by 
the  Sultan  of  Egypt  and  Syria;  this  loss  was  followed  by 
the  capture  of  many  other  towns,  and  the  Christian  hold 
on  Palestine  was  reduced  to  the  possession  of  Acre,  then 
a  strong  fortress  and  a  place  of  great  trade.  A  quarrel 
with  the  Sultan  of  Syria  led  to  the  capture  of  Acre  in 
May,  1291,  by  a  great  force  of  Moslems;  the  remnant  of 
VOL.  1  —  23 


354      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

the  Knights  Templars  went  to  Cyprus,  and  all  dominion 
of  Christians  in  Palestine  came  to  an  end. 

The  religious  enthusiasm  aroused  by  these  Wars  of 
the  Cross  increased,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  the 
authority  of  the  Popes  and  of  the  Western  (Latin) 
Church  throughout  Europe.  It  was  by  Papal  exhorta- 
tion or  command  that  the  European  sovereigns,  in  many 
instances,  undertook  the  expeditions  to  the  East;  with 
the  papal  blessing  the  warriors  started  on  the  long  and 
dangerous  enterprise;  to  support  the  expenses  of  these 
wars,  the  Popes  assumed  the  right  of  taxation  to  some 
extent,  and  so  acquired  authority  and  further  recogni- 
tion as  to  secular  affairs  in  the  European  States.  The 
church  was  enriched  by  succeeding  to  lands  bequeathed 
to  her  by  Crusaders  who  might  die,  and  often  did  die, 
without  heirs,  and  by  endowments  made  by  such  as 
shirked  the  duty  of  personal  service  in  the  cause  of  the 
Cross. 

There  is  no  stronger  bond  of  communion  than  that 
which  unites  those  who  have  fought  and  bled  on  the 
same  battle-fields,  shared  the  same  adventures,  and 
encountered  the  same  dangers,  trials,  and  misfortunes. 
The  journeying  to  and  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  the 
deeds  done  there  against  the  infidels,  were  the  common 
simultaneous  work  of  various  Western  nations,  who 
thereby  came  to  know  each  other  better,  to  have  a 
fellow-feeling  and  a  mutual  respect,  and  to  cast  away  the 
prejudices  born  of  ignorance  and  isolation.  Enlighten- 
ment in  this  way  came  to  Europe,  in  no  small  degree, 
from  the  Crusades. 

The  power  of  the  feudal  aristocracy  was  lessened  in 
many  quarters  through  the  encumbering  of  estates  with 
debt  in  meeting  the  heavy  expenses  of  an  expedition  to 
the  East.  One  consequence  of  this  was  that  land  was 


THE  CRUSADES  355 

acquired  by  members  of  the  rich  trading  class  that  had 
begun  to  arise,  and  so  a  new  aristocracy  of  wealth 
gained  by  enterprise  and  skill,  instead  of  by  rapine  and 
extortion,  was  by  slow  degrees  created.  The  edifice  of 
feudalism  was  undermined  in  the  alienation  of  the 
estates  of  proud,  martial,  and  oppressive  barons,  and  in 
the  frequent  extinction  even  of  their  race  by  death  in 
war.  As  Gibbon  says:  "Their  poverty  extorted  from 
their  pride  those  charters  of  freedom  which  unlocked  the 
fetters  of  the  slave,  secured  the  farm  of  the  peasant  and 
the  shop  of  the  artificer,  and  gradually  restored  a  sub- 
stance and  a  soul  to  the  most  numerous  and  useful  part 
of  the  community.  The  conflagration  which  destroyed 
the  tall  and  barren  trees  of  the  forest  gave  air  and  scope 
to  the  vegetation  of  the  smaller  and  nutritive  plants  of 
the  soil."  In  other  words,  modern  society  is  indebted 
to  the  Crusades  for  the  beginnings  of  its  best  constitu- 
ent, the  great  middle  class. 

The  commercial  republics  of  Italy  received  much 
benefit  from  the  Crusades.  The  large  number  of 
troops  that  went  to  Palestine  wholly  or  partially  by  sea 
were  borne  in  transport  vessels  supplied  by  these  mari- 
time States,  which  also  did  a  great  trade  in  provisions 
and  supplies  for  warlike  purposes.  The  ships  returned 
on  the  homeward  voyage  filled  up  with  products  of  the 
East  before  unknown  or  little  used  in  Europe,  and  new 
markets  for  commerce  became  established  at  many 
points  upon  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  great  inland  sea. 
New  arts  and  processes  in  manufactures  were  also  intro- 
duced to  Europe. 

The  mental  stir  aroused  by  the  experience  of  an 
adventurous  change  of  scene  could  not  but  have  the 
happiest  effect  upon  the  stagnation  and  stolidity  engen- 
dered among  those  who  never  move  from  home.  The 


356      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

men  of  Western  Europe  went  forth  into  the  East,  and 
found  there,  in  the  foes  whom  they  encountered  on  the 
field  of  battle,  not  only  warriors  as  gallant  as  themselves, 
but  their  superiors  in  knowledge,  industry,  and  art. 
The  nations  of  the  west  of  Europe  had  abundant  energy 
of  character,  and  an  active,  imitative  spirit,  and  thus 
derived  essential  good  from  intercourse  with  the  Arab- 
ians and  Greeks,  who  then  possessed  the  highest  culture 
of  the  world.  It  was  at  a  later  period,  indeed,  that  learn- 
ing thoroughly  revived,  and  the  Latin  conquerors  of 
Constantinople,  early  in  the  Thirteenth  Century,  were 
still  too  rude  to  understand  and  master  the  treasures  of 
literature  existing  in  her  libraries  and  schools.  But 
rudiments  of  learning,  in  mathematical  and  medical 
science  especially,  were  at  any  rate  acquired  in  the  East, 
and  the  way  for  better  things  was  smoothed.  A  revival 
of  thought,  a  growth  of  liberal  ideas,  arose  out  of  the 
expeditions  which  were  due,  in  the  beginning,  to  a  spirit 
of  fanatical  enthusiasm,  but  in  the  end  did  much  to  les- 
sen religious  bigotry  and  prejudice  concerning  those 
whom  Christian  knights  found  to  be  as  brave,  as  gen- 
erous, as  truly  chivalrous  as  themselves.  Among  the 
minor  benefits  conferred  by  the  East  upon  the  West 
during  the  times  of  the  crusades  may  be  recounted 
windmills,  invented  first  in  Asia  Minor,  and  introduced 
to  Normandy  in  1105,  and  such  luxuries  as  silk  and 
sugar,  brought  from  Greece  and  Egypt  into  Italy  by  the 
traders  of  the  great  commercial  states. 


ENGLAND'S    RISE    AS    A    NATION 

After  the  death  of  Hardicanute  (1042)  the  English 
people  had  been  under  foreign  domination  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  The  glories  of  the  ancient  race  had  van- 
ished among  intestine  conflicts,  exhausting  war,  pay- 
ment of  tributes  to  rapacious  foes  and  subjection  to 
Danish  rulers.  The  memories  of  Alfred  and  Athelstan 
were  preserved  in  their  race,  traditions,  and  songs  and 
so  the  general  voice  of  the  people  was  for  the  elevation 
to  the  throne  of  Edward,  son  of  Ethelred,  and  his  second 
wife,  the  Norman  Princess  Emma.  His  mild  religious 
character,  for  he  was  more  fitted  to  be  a  monk  than  a 
monarch,  led  to  his  being  called  the  Confessor.  Edu- 
cated in  Normandy,  he  surrounded  himself  with  foreign 
friends  and  filled  the  high  places  of  the  Kingdom  with 
Normans.  The  Saxons  were  jealous  and  their  leader, 
the  powerful  Earl  Godwin,  succeeded  in  expelling  the 
Frenchmen.  Harold,  son  of  the  Earl,  was  elected  suc- 
cessor to  Edward  by  the  Witenagemot,  which  thus  for 
the  first  time  violated  the  well-established  custom  of  not 
going  outside  of  the  royal  family  for  a  monarch.  Wil- 
liam, Duke  of  Normandy,  demanded  the  throne  as  next 
of  kin.  When  the  news  of  Harold's  accession  reached 
William  at  Rouen  he  was  moved  to  the  deepest  wrath. 
None  dared  speak  to  him  as  he  clenched  his  teeth,  strode 
up  and  down  the  palace  hall  with  unequal  and  hurried 
steps  and  half-drew  his  sword  from  his  sheath.  William 
had  good  reason  for  anger,  as  while  on  a  visit  to  Nor- 
mandy he  had  made  Harold  prisoner  and  wrung  from 
a,i}  oath  that  jie  would  aid  the  Norman  to  secure 


358      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

throne  after  Edward's  death.  Accusing  Harold  of  per- 
jury, William  undertook  the  conquest  of  England  with 
the  approval  of  the  Pope,  who  was  angered  because 
Peter's  pence  had  not  been  paid.  Harold  was  opposed 
by  some  of  his  countrymen  and  mustered  only  a  meager 
force  to  meet  William  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  which 
resulted  in  the  Saxon's  death.  William  had  little  diffi- 
culty in  securing  his  election  by  the  Witanagemot. 
Yet  many  of  the  Saxons  continued  for  years  to  resist 
the  conqueror  and  lived  like  outlaws  in  the  woods. 

The  Northmen  or  Normans  were  the  very  pick  and 
flower  of  the  Scandinavian  peoples.  What  the  Aryans 
were  to  the  primitive  races  of  mankind  on  the  plateau  of 
Central  Asia,  what  the  Hellenes  were  to  the  Pelasgic 
tribes  in  olden  Greece,  were  the  Normans  to  their  breth- 
ren on  the  coast  of  the  Northern  Sea.  They  had  in 
their  best  form  all  the  qualities  inherent  in  their  race. 
They  were  foremost  in  courage,  military  discipline,  and 
skill  and  in  the  power  of  embracing  and  improving  on 
the  culture  with  which  their  conquests  made  them 
familiar.  They  were  the  descendants  of  the  men  who, 
under  Rollo,  had  threatened  Paris  and  won  French  terri- 
tory. The  hardy  Northmen,  established  in  a  fertile 
region,  under  a  warmer  sky  than  that  of  their  former 
home,  adopted  at  last  the  speech,  usages,  and  faith  of 
those  whom  they  had  subdued.  They  gained  and  ab- 
sorbed all  the  knowledge  which  they  found  existing  in 
their  new  home.  They  were  safe  by  their  courage  and 
arms  from  all  foreign  assailants,  and  so  a  tribe  of  pirates 
became  a  Nation  of  civilized  people,  devoted  to  tillage, 
handicrafts,  trade,  letters,  and  the  arts,  but  skilled  also 
and  courageous  in  war  and  full  of  the  chivalrous  spirit 
which  has  worked  with  such  power  and  effect  on  the 
morals  and  mariners  and  politics  of  Europe.  The  pride. 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  359 

and  magnificence  of  life  in  this  formidable  Nation  were 
shown  by  their  nobles  in  large,  strong  and  stately 
castles,  fiery  steeds,  choice  falcons  and  hawks  for  the 
chase,  and  in  the  mimic  contests  of  armored  knights, 
where  warriors  and  courtiers  strove  in  tourney  for  the 
smiles  of  graceful  dames.  Though  chiefly  renowned  for 
their  military  exploits,  the  Normans  were  famed  for 
their  polished  manners,  winning  demeanor,  and  diplo- 
matic skill. 

These  traits  were  found  in  William,  who  was  one  of 
the  most  polished  knights  and  skillful  warriors  of  his 
day.  He  began  by  treating  the  Saxon  nobles  with 
kindness.  Peace  and  order  were  restored,  trade  re- 
sumed its  activity  and  no  change  in  the  laws  and  cus- 
toms of  the  realm  was  made.  But  William  had  no  idea 
of  assuming  the  position  of  a  chief  among  equals  which 
was  the  feudalistic  idea  of  a  King.  Nor  would  he 
subordinate  his  power  to  that  of  the  Church.  He  found 
in  the  organization  of  the  conquered  Kingdom  prin- 
ciples which  enabled  him,  while  using  feudal  language, 
to  be  in  fact  an  absolute  King  and  to  set  such  limits  to 
the  power  of  Rome  as  to  keep  the  Church  virtually  in 
subordination.  An  administrative  system  centered  in 
the  crown  and  working  chiefly  through  the  exchequer, 
went  far  to  centralize  the  Government.  Triumphant 
suppression  of  insurrection  enabled  them  to  get  rid  of 
the  baronage  of  the  conquest.  Gradually  a  new  nobil- 
ity of  administrative  origin  took  the  place  of  the  Saxon 
Earls,  England  being  divided  by  William  among  his 
comrades.  The  secular  and  ecclesiastical  lands  of  the 
Saxons  were  occupied  by  the  conquerors  and  those  who 
had  been  cowherds  and  weavers  or  simple  priests  on  the 
Continent,  became  lords  and  bishops  in  England.  Be- 
tween 1080  and  1086,  a  register  of  all  the  properties 


360      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

occupied  was  drawn  up.  This  was  known  as  the 
Doomsday  book  in  England.  Thus  was  established  the 
most  thorough  feudal  system  in  Europe.  There  were 
600  barons  and  under  them  60,000  knights,  while  over 
them  all  was  the  King,  who  took  for  his  own  use  1,462 
manors  and  the  principal  cities,  and  by  requiring  direct 
oath  from  the  chevaliers,  bound  every  vassal  personally 
to  himself.  The  whole  history  of  England  depends 
upon  this  partition,  for  when  the  royalty  became  oppres- 
sive the  barons,  in  self-defense,  were  able  to  unite  with 
burgesses,  and  the  nobles  saved  their  rights  only  by 
securing  those  of  their  humble  allies.  English  public 
liberty  thus  came  about  by  agreement  between  the 
burgher  middle  class  and  the  nobles.  Another  cause 
was  that  chivalry  was  never  really  dominant  in  England. 
For  the  man  unassisted  by  birth  to  rise  was  harder  in 
some  ages  than  others,  but  there  has  been  no  age  in 
England  where  it  was  wholly  impossible. 

The  fusion  of  the  two  races  was  so  speedy  that  a 
writer  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  con- 
quest (the  author  of  the  famous  Dialogues  de  Scaccario) 
could  say  that  among  the  free  population  it  was  im- 
possible to  tell  who  was  of  Norman  and  who  of  Eng- 
lish birth.  That  is  to  say,  the  great  nobles  must  have 
been  all  but  purely  Normans;  the  lowest  classes  must 
have  been  all  but  purely  English;  in  the  intermediate 
classes,  among  the  townsmen  and  the  smaller  land- 
owners, the  two  races  were  so  intermixed  and  they  had 
so  modified  one  another  that  the  distinction  between 
them  had  been  forgotten. 

The  greatest  of  the  outward  changes  which  were 
caused  by  the  Norman  conquest  was  its  effect  on  the 
language  and  literature  of  England.  In  the  matter  of 
language,  as  in  other  matters,  the  congest  j 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  361 

wrought  no  formal  change;  whatever  change  happened 
was  the  gradual  result  of  the  state  of  things  which  the 
conquest  brought  about.  The  French  language  was  never 
substituted  for  English  by  any  formal  act.  Documents 
were  written  in  English  long  after  the  conquest.  As  it 
was  with  institutions,  so  it  was  with  language.  The  old 
language  was  neither  proscribed  nor  forgotten,  but  a 
new  language  came  in  by  the  side  of  it.  At  first  there 
were  two  languages  spoken,  the  Norman  being  the 
fashionable  tongue  and  the  Saxon  the  common  speech; 
but  all  the  nobles,  even  William  himself,  learned  Saxon. 
Slowly  as  the  two  peoples  combined,  the  two  languages 
coalesced,  forming,  with  the  evolution  of  subsequent 
centuries,  the  English  language  as  we  know  it  to-day. 
William  the  Conqueror  died  in  1087,  while  on  an 
expedition  against  the  King  of  France,  Philip  I.  Will- 
iam II  Rufus,  his  second  son,  succeeded  him  in  Eng- 
land, and  Robert,  the  elder  son,  in  Normandy.  Robert 
tried  to  take  England  away  from  his  younger  brother, 
but  failing  in  the  attempt  went  on  a  crusade.  He  was 
still  absent  when  William  Rufus  died  on  a  hunting 
excursion.  Their  younger  brother,  Henry  I,  surnamed 
Beauclerc,  seized  the  crown,  and  when  Robert  wished 
to  claim  his  rights,  defeated  him  at  Tenchebray  (1106), 
reunited  Normandy  to  England,  and  conquered  Louis 
the  Fat,  who  had  attempted  to  secure  at  least  the  suc- 
cession of  the  duchy  for  William  Cliton,  Robert's  son 
(1119).  When  Henry  I  died  he  left  his  throne  by  will 
to  Matilda,  his  daughter,  widow  of  the  Emperor  Henry 
V,  and  wife  of  Geoffrey,  Count  of  Anjou.  Henry 
charged  his  nephew,  Stephen  of  Blois,  to  protect  the 
Empress.  Stephen  seized  the  crown  and  defeated  this 
plot,  and  vanquished  the  Scotch,  Matilda's  allies,  at  the 
of  $e  Stuart'  kf Sf  successful  against  her,  h 


362      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

was  taken  prisoner.  A  compromise  was  made  by  which 
he  remained  King  during  his  life  and  was  succeeded  by 
Henry  of  Anjou,  son  of  the  Empress. 

Normandy  and  Maine  were  acquired  by  Henry  II 
through  the  renunciation  of  his  mother,  Matilda,  and 
from  his  father  he  inherited  Anjou  and  Touraine. 
Marrying  Eleanor,  the  divorced  wife  of  Louis  the 
Young,  she  brought  him  as  dowry  Poitiers,  Bordeaux, 
Agin,  and  Limoges,  together  with  sovereignty  of  Au- 
vergne,  Saintonge,  Angoumois,  La  Marche,  and  Peri- 
gord.  Finally,  in  1154,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
he  ascended  the  throne  of  England  and  afterward 
married  one  of  his  sons  to  the  heiress  of  Brittany. 
His  power  was  formidable,  but  Henry  used  it  only 
to  fight  against  his  clergy  and  his  sons.  The  clergy, 
from  the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire,  had  the 
privilege  of  self-judging.  In  a  case  against  a  clergy- 
man lay  tribunals  were  incompetent  and  only  eccles- 
iastical jurisdiction  could  decide.  In  England,  Will- 
iam the  Conqueror  had  given  this  privilege,  called 
"Benefit  of  Clergy,"  a  wide  scope,  resulting  in  numer- 
ous abuses  and  scandalous  impunities.  Henry  II 
wished  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and  in  order  to  rule  the  clergy 
named  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  his  chaplain, 
Thomas  a  Becket,  a  Saxon,  and  until  then  the  most  bril- 
liant and  docile  of  courtiers.  Becket  at  once  became 
another  man — austere  and  inflexible.  In  a  great  as- 
semblage of  bishops,  abbots,  and  barons,  held  at  Clar- 
endon (1164),  the  King  passed  the  constitutions  of 
Clarendon,  which  obliged  every  clergyman  accused  of  a 
crime  to  appear  before  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice, 
forbade  any  ecclesiastic  to  leave  the  Kingdom  without 
royal  permit,  and  intrusted  to  the  King  the  guardianship 
and  revenue  of  every  bishopric  and  benefice  vacant, 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  36^ 

Thomas  a  Becket  opposed  these  statutes,  and  to  avoid 
the  anger  of  his  master,  fled  to  France.  Louis  VII, 
having  brought  about  a  reconciliation  between  Henry 
and  Becket,  the  latter  returned  to  Canterbury,  but  con- 
ceded nothing  in  ecclesiastical  privileges.  So  the  King 
let  fall  words  which  four  knights  interpreted  as  a  sen- 
tence of  death,  and  slew  the  archbishop  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar  (1170).  This  crime  aroused  so  great  indignation 
against  Henry  II  that  he  was  obliged  to  annul  the  Con- 
stitutions of  Clarendon  and  do  penance  on  the  tomb  of 
the  martyr.  He  would  not  have  submitted  to  this 
humiliation  had  he  not  feared  a  popular  rising  and 
excommunication  at  the  time  when  he  was  at  war  with 
his  three  eldest  sons,  Henry  Short-Coat,  Duke  of  Maine 
and  Anjou;  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  Duke  of  Aquitaine; 
and  Geoffrey,  Duke  of  Brittany.  Even  the  fourth  son, 
John  Lackland,  at  last  joined  the  others.  Henry  II 
passed  his  last  days  in  fighting  his  sons  and  the  King  of 
France,  who  helped  the  rebels.  In  1171  he  had  con- 
quered the  east  and  the  south  of  Ireland. 

Henry  handed  to  his  son  a  powerful  and  well-organ- 
ized monarchy,  in  which  the  feeling  of  national  unity 
had  made  great  advances.  His  system  proved  strong 
enough  to  support  the  continued  absence  of  Richard  in 
the  crusades  and  in  his  French  dominions;  national  life 
even  acquired  increased  strength  by  the  self-govern- 
ment which  was  thus  forced  on  the  administration.  The 
brave  and  chivalrous  Coeur  de  Lion*  was  followed  by  his 
brother,  John  Lackland,  a  man  who  seems  to  have  been 
without  a  redeeming  trait.  Boastful  but  cowardly, 
tyrannical  but  weak,  he  excited  the  anger  of  all  classes. 
He  imposed  taxes  at  pleasure,  wronged  the  poor  and 
plundered  the  rich.  At  one  time  it  is  said  he  threw  into 

*See  volume  "World's  Famous  Warriors." 


364      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

prison  a  wealthy  Jew  who  refused  to  give  him  an  enor- 
mous sum  of  money,  and  pulled  out  a  tooth  every  day 
until  he  paid  the  required  amount.  His  crime  in  mur- 
dering his  brother's  son  cost  him  Touraine,  Anjou, 
Maine,  Normandy,  and  Poitou,  and  he  was  stripped  of 
all  his  French  possessions,  a  magnificent  territory, 
greater  than  that  ruled  by  the  King  of  France  him- 
self. He  foolishly  renewed  his  father's  quarrel  with  the 
Papal  See,  was  excommunicated  and  deposed,  where- 
upon he  formally  surrendered  his  crown  to  the  Pope,  to 
whom  he  acknowledged  himself  as  a  vassal.  Then  he 
tried  to  take  revenge  for  his  humiliations  by  forming 
against  France  the  coalition  which  was  overthrown  at 
the  battle  of  Bouvines.  While  his  allies  were  defeated 
in  the  North  John  himself  was  vanquished  in  Poitou. 
When  John  returned  to  England  he  found  that  the 
barons,  freed  from  connection  with  the  Continent,  and 
supported  by  all  parties  smarting  from  misgovernment 
and  the  shame  of  disaster,  were  in  revolt.  They  ap- 
peared as  the  real  Government  of  England,  and  wrung 
from  the  humbled  King  at  Runnymede  the  Magna 
Charta  (1215),  that  great  charter  which  secured  in  the 
form  of  a  solemn  treaty,  the  foundations  of  the  future 
liberties  of  England.  This  great  statute  was  confirmed 
no  less  than  thirty-two  times,  for  whenever  money  was 
required  by  the  King  its  renewal  was  demanded.  It 
now  stands  on  the  English  statute  book  as  25  Edward 
I  (1297).  Section  29  of  this  act  is  the  keystone  of  Eng- 
lish history :  "No  freeman  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned, 
or  be  disseized  of  his  freeholds,  or  liberties  or  free  cus- 
toms, or  be  outlawed  or  exiled,  or  any  otherwise  be 
destroyed;  nor  will  we  pass  upon  him  nor  condemn  him, 
but  by  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers  or  by  the  law  of  the 
land.  We  will  sell  to  no  man,  we  will  not  deny  or  defe? 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  365 

to  any  man,  either  justice  or  right."  No  class  was 
neglected,  but  each  obtained  some  cherished  right. 
Personal  freedom,  security  of  property,  and  liberty  of 
movement  thus  became  the  essential  rights  of  every 
Englishman.  These  rights  were  not  indeed  immedi- 
ately conceded;  John  himself  attempted  to  tear  up  the 
charter  and  obtained  the  Pope's  sanction  to  do  so.  The 
charter  was  made  a  reality,  and  the  orderly  development 
of  rights  secured  under  Edward  I. 

With  John  and  the  reign  of  his  son  began  one  of 
the  most  important  periods  in  English  history.  It  was 
the  time  when  the  Nation,  laws,  and  languages  finally 
assimilated  whatever  was  to  be  assimilated  of  the  foreign 
elements  brought  in  by  William  the  Conqueror,  and 
finally  threw  off  whatever  was  to  be  thrown  off.  Dur- 
ing this  time  most  of  the  things  which  go  to  make  up 
the  national  life  of  England  begin  to  assume  the  general 
outline  which  has  continued  with  details  down  to  the 
present  time.  It  was  now  that  the  principle  of  limiting 
the  power  of  the  King  began  to  assert  itself.  Rever- 
ence for  the  monarch  had  been  destroyed  by  the  acts 
of  the  vicious  and  cowardly  John.  Henry  III  (1216- 
1272)  was  not  such  a  monarch  as  to  strengthen  the 
respect  for  kingly  power.  His  reign  was  a  long  minor- 
ity, and  in  it  there  was  constant  weakness,  perjury, 
and  acts  of  violence,  and  everything  which  should  teach 
the  Nation  the  necessity  of  restraining  by  institutions 
the  royal  will  that  was  so  little  sure  of  itself.  Abroad 
Henry  was  defeated  by  Louis  IX  (St.  Louis)  at  Taille- 
bourg  and  Saintes.  At  home  the  discontent  of  the  peo- 
ple increased  because  of  repeated  violations  of  the 
Magna  Charta  and  the  favor  shown  to  the  relatives  of 
Queen  Eleanor  of  Provence,  who  caused  all  the  offices 
to  be  given  to  them,  and  also  because  of  a  real  invasion 


366      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  Italian  clergy  sent  by  the  Pope  and  who  seized  the 
beneficies. 

The  finances  fell  into  utter  decay.  At  length  a 
demand  for  money  to  support,  in  the  interest  of  Rome, 
the  claim  of  the  King's  son  to  the  throne  of  Sicily 
brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  on  June  1 1,  1258,  at  the 
great  National  Council  of  Oxford,  the  first  Assembly,  to 
which  the  name  of  Parliament  was  officially  given,  was 
held.  The  barons  forced  the  King  to  entrust  the 
reforms  to  twenty-four  of  themselves,  of  whom  only 
twelve  were  appointed  by  him.  These  twenty-four 
delegates  published  the  statutes  or  provisions  of  Oxford. 
The  King  confirmed  the  Magna  Charta.  The  twenty- 
four  were  to  name  each  year  the  Lord  High  Chancellor, 
the  Lord  High  Treasurer,  the  Judges,  and  other  public 
officers,  Governors  of  the  castles,  etc.  It  was  made  a 
capital  crime  to  oppose  their  decisions;  and  ordered  that 
Parliament  should  be  assembled  every  three  years. 
Henry  III  protested,  and  appealed  to  the  arbitration  of 
St.  Louis,  who  decided  in  his  favor.  But  the  barons 
refused  to  accept  this  judgment;  attacked  the  King  in 
arms,  under  the  leadership  of  a  grandson  of  the  con- 
queror of  Albigenses,  Simon  de  Montfort,  Earl  of  Lei- 
cester, and  took  him  prisoner,  with  his  son  Edward,  at 
the  Battle  of  Lewes  (1264).  Leicester  governed  in  the 
name  of  the  King,  whom  he  kept  captive;  organized  the 
first  complete  representation  of  the  English  Nation  by 
the  ordinance  of  1265,  which  prescribed  the  election  to 
Parliament  of  two  knights  for  each  county  and  two 
citizens  for  each  city  or  borough  of  each  county. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  House  of  Commons.  This 
summons  to  Parliament  was  the  first  that  ever  called 
for  representatives  of  towns.  It  is  true  that  by  the  Plan- 
tagenet  system  of  rule,  local  government  in  the  towns 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  367 

as  well  as  in  the  counties  had  been  already  brought  to 
bear  on  the  central  administration  of  affairs,  and  that  the 
direct  summons  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  towns  to  sit 
in  the  great  Council  of  the  Realm  or  the  Parliament,  was 
nothing  more  than  a  natural  extension  of  the  summons 
of  their  representatives  to  meet  the  royal  commissioners 
of  justices  on  circuit.  The  genius  of  De  Monfort  is 
shown  in  that  the  thing  was  natural;  it  gave  no  shock 
to  people's  minds,  and  it  caused  no  surprise.  Thus  it 
was  that  it  lived  and  grew  and  became  a  thing  abiding 
as  it  is  now.  Henceforth,  in  spite  of  reaction,  which 
ever  fades  away  to  naught  before  the  power  of  real  prog- 
ress, the  trader  and  the  merchant  were  to  sit  along  with 
the  baron,  the  bishop,  and  the  knight  of  the  shire,  and 
deliberate  on  measures  for  the  good  of  all.  All  classes 
in  the  State  were  represented  and  so  there  was  a  true 
and  complete  Parliament.  It  must  be  understood,  how- 
ever, that  there  was  a  gradual  development.  Many  of 
the  early  Parliaments  were  packed  by  the  King,  and 
Parliaments  were  of  varying  strength;  some  powerful 
and  some  weak.  Indeed  English  history  for  500  years 
became  little  more  than  a  struggle  between  King  and 
Parliament,  in  which  Parliament  always  won  when  it 
had  the  sufficient  amount  of  nerve  to  insist  upon  obedi- 
ence. Of  its  development  during  the  Plantagenets  it 
may  be  said  that,  armed  with  the  power  of  taxation,  it 
took  advantage  of  the  King's  weakness  and  made  good 
its  position  as  a  national  council.  In  1309  Parliament 
stipulated  conditions  to  the  voting  of  taxes,  so  that  roy- 
alty, naturally  extravagant,  would  be  kent  in  check  and 
made  to  respect  the  laws.  In  the  course  of  the  Four- 
teenth Century  there  was  a  marked  growth  in  the  power 
and  importance  of  Parliament.  During  the  first  fifty 
years  of  the  life  of  the  institution  since  the  days  of  De 


368      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Montfort,  it  became  settled  that  solemn  acts  of  change 
in  the  method  of  rule  must  be  done  by  this  body,  and  also 
that  Parliament  alone  could  legally  enforce  the  payment 
of  any  tax.  Under  Edward  II  the  Commons  are  found 
voting  taxes  only  on  conditions  of  redress,  by  the  King, 
of  grievances  which  they  brought  before  him.  The 
action  of  the  barons  through  this  period  shows,  how- 
ever, that  they  held  the  proper  sphere  of  the  Commons 
to  be  confined  to  asking  for  redress  and  ordering  the 
payment  of  taxes  to  the  King  by  the  class  which  they 
presented;  high  matters  of  state,  such  as  the  making  of 
peace  and  war,  and  important  changes  in  the  Govern- 
ment, such  as  the  passing  of  ordinances,  were  regarded 
as  belonging  only  to  the  nobles  of  the  land. 

The  Kingdom  was  increased  under  Edward  I  (1272- 
1307)  by  .the  acquisition  of  Wales.  Politically  and 
socially  Wales  had  sunk  into  seeming  barbarism  under 
the  evil  influence  of  internal  feuds  and  border  warfare 
with  its  powerful  neighbor.  The  mass  of  the  people 
knew  nothing  of  the  use  of  bread,  and  were  wild  herds- 
men, feeding  on  the  milk  and  flesh  of  their  flocks,  and 
clothing  themselves  in  skins.  They  were  divided  into 
numerous  clans,  waging  pitiless,  revengeful,  and  treach- 
erous warfare  against  each  other.  The  only  sign  of 
culture  lay  in  the  poetry  of  their  bards,  whose  Celtic 
nature  burst  forth  in  song  of  real  literary  merit,  ex- 
pressed in  a  language  which  at  that  early  age  had 
reached  a  definite  form  and  was  used  with  great  richness 
of  imagery  to  manifest  the  poet's  sense  of  the  beauties  of 
nature  and  to  reveal  the  emotions  of  the  heart.  The 
utterances  of  the  Welsh  singers  were  not  confined  to  the 
region  of  romance.  The  passionate  patriotism  of  their 
race  roused  them  to  fling  out  in  many  an  ode  their  peo- 
ple's hatred  of  the  Saxon,  and  their  land  was  stirred  with 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  369 

a  new  and  feverish  strength  to  its  last  contest  with  the 
English  invaders.  The  southern  part  of  the  country, 
in  its  more  level  regions  along  the  Bristol  Channel,  was 
occupied  by  Norman  barons  after  the  conquest,  and 
Henry  I  settled  as  colonists  in  Pembrokeshire  a  num- 
ber of  Flemings,  who  brought  with  them  their  habits  of 
industry  and  their  skill  in  the  weaving  of  cloths.  In  the 
last  century  of  Welsh  independence  some  Princes 
named  Llewellyn  were  in  power.  The  last  of  these  had 
been  in  arms  against  Henry  III,  but  had  promised  fealty 
to  .the  King  before  Prince  Edward  went  on  his  crusade. 
Llewellyn  had  conquered  Glamorgan,  and  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  strength,  he  was  allowed,  in  1267,  to  take  the 
title  of  Prince  of  Wales  and  to  receive  homage  from  the 
other  Welsh  chieftains.  When  summoned  as  a  vas- 
sal to  do  homage  at  Edward's  coronation  he  refused  to 
do  so  without  a  safe  conduct.  Wars  then  began,  in 
which  the  Welsh  fought  with  great  bravery,  being 
hunted  from  one  retreat  to  another.  David,  the  last 
Prince,  was  betrayed  to  the  enemy,  and  tried  before 
Parliament;  was  put  to  death  as  traitor  (1283).  In 
April,  1284,  the  infant  son  of  Edward  was  born  at  Canar- 
von  and  was  invested  with  the  dignity  and  title  of  Prince 
of  Wales,  since  generally  given  to  the  English  sover- 
eign's eldest  son. 

Wars  with  Scotland  also  marked  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  Chosen  as  umpire  between  two  claimants 
for  the  Scottish  throne,  Robert  Bruce  and  John  Baliol, 
Edward  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter  on  condition  that 
he  would  regard  the  English  King  as  his  feudal  lord. 
Such  a  condition  did  not  suit  the  Scots,  whose  ancestors 
had  refused  to  yield  to  either  Romans  or  Northmen,  and 
who,  in  the  reign  of  Kenneth,  son  of  Malcolm,  had 

acquired   Strathclyde   from   the   English.     There   had 
Voi,.  i  —  74 


370      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

been  constant  border  warfare  until  the  century  before 
Edward,  when  there  was  scarcely  a  quarrel.  But  the 
Scots  could  not  brook  a  condition  of  vassalage  and 
revolted,  whereupon  Edward  took  possession  of  the 
country  as  a  fortified  fief  in  1296.  Under  William  Wal- 
lace, the  Scots  arose  again,  but  were  defeated,  and  their 
leader  taken  to  London  and  hanged.  Another  leader 
was  found  in  Robert  Bruce.*  Edward  marched  against 
him,  but  died  in  sight  of  Scotland.  The  English  sol- 
diers continued  the  battle  and  drove  Bruce  from  one 
hiding  place  to  another.  Almost  in  despair,  the  patriot 
lay  one  day  sleepless  on  his  bed,  where  he  watched  a 
spider  jumping  to  attach  its  thread  to  a  wall.  Six  times 
it  failed,  but  succeeded  on  the  seventh.  Bruce,  encour- 
aged by  this  experience  of  the  spider,  resolved  to  per- 
severe, and  won  success.  Castle  after  castle  fell  into  his 
hands  until  only  Stirling  remained.  Edward  II,  going 
to  its  relief,  met  Bruce  at  Bannockburn  (1314).  The 
Scottish  army  was  defended  by  pits,  having  sharp  stakes 
at  the  bottom  and  covered  at  the  top  with  stakes  and 
turf.  The  English  knights,  galloping  to  the  attack, 
plunged  into  these  hidden  holes.  In  the  midst  of  the 
confusion,  a  body  of  sutlers  appeared  on  a  distant  hill, 
and  the  dispirited  English,  mistaking  them  for  reinforce- 
ments, fled.  In  1328  Scottish  independence  was 
acknowledged,  and  from  that  period  the  land  was  never 
in  danger  of  being  conquered,  although  there  were 
many  wars  between  Scotland  and  England.  The 
Scotch  were  usually  allies  of  the  French,  and  their  sol- 
diers were  found  fighting  in  the  French  King's  armies. 

Ireland  had  been  conquered  by  Henry  II  in  1171 
and  the  country  was  henceforth  under  English  rule,  but 
in  a  state  of  disorder.  For  three  hundred  years  it  was 

*  See  Volume  "World's  Famous  Warriors." 


ENGLAND'S  RISE  AS  A  NATION  371 

i he  constant  scene  of  battles  between  the  Irish  chiefs  and 
the  English  invaders  and  their  descendants. 

It  was  in  Edward's  reign  that  the  Jews  were  ban- 
ished from  England,  not  to  reappear  until  the  days  of 
Cromwell.  They  had  been  rigorously  treated  in  accord- 
ance with  the  bigotry  of  the  age  before  the  final  step  was 
taken.  In  1278  they  were  seized  upon  a  charge  of 
clipping  coin,  and  a  record  of  the  time  states  that  "of 
the  Jews  of  both  sexes  280  were  hanged  in  London  and 
a  very  great  multitude  in  the  other  cities  of  England." 
The  Christians  guilty  of  the  same  offenses  were  only 
fined.  On  one  occasion  all  the  Jews  in  the  Kingdom, 
including  the  women  and  children,  were  imprisoned 
until  they  paid  a  heavy  fine  as  ransom.  At  last,  by 
proclamation  of  July  27,  1290,  all  the  Jews  were  ban- 
ished, to  the  number  of  over  16,000. 


CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  FRENCH  MON- 
ARCHY 

The  real  founder  of  the  French  monarchy  as  a  power 
in  Europe  was  Philip  Augustus,  who  reigned  from  1180 
to  1223.  Under  his  rule  the  Kingdom  grew  to  about 
one-half  its  present  size,  a  great  increase  in  territorial 
extent  over  the  petty  principality  which  he  inherited. 
Philip  Augustus  was  shrewd  and  diplomatic;  he  exiled 
and  despoiled  the  Jews  in  order  to  make  money;  he  deliv- 
ered heretics  and  blasphemers  to  the  church,  by  which 
he  conciliated  the  bishops;  by  allying  himself  with  the 
rebel  Richard,  son  of  Henry  II,  he  added  to  the  embarass- 
ments  of  the  English.  At  the  same  time  he  waged  little 
wars  that  were  without  peril,  but  not  without  profit,  as 
they  made  him  master  of  Vermandais,  Valois,  and 
Amiens.  Returning  from  the  third  crusade,  where  he 
had  quarreled  with  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  he  plotted 
with  John  Lackland,  brother  of  the  new  King  of  Eng- 
land, to  despoil  the  latter.  Richard,  on  escaping  from 
prison,  arrived  in  England  in  a  rage,  and  later  waged 
violent  war  in  the  south  of  France.  Pope  Innocent  III 
interposed  and  made  the  Kings  sign  a  truce  of  five  years. 
Two  months  later  Richard  was  killed  by  an  arrow  at  the 
siege  of  the  castle  of  Limousin.  The  crown  of  England 
should  have  reverted  by  the  law  of  primogeniture  to 
Arthur,  son  of  an  elder  brother  of  John  Lackland.  The 
uncle  usurped  it,  conquered  his  nephew  and  murdered 
him  (1203).  Philip  Augustus  summoned  the  murderer 
to  appear  before  his  court.  John  took  good  care  not  to 
come,  whereupon  Philip,  as  punishment,  declared  that  he 

37* 


CONSOLIDATION  FRENCH  MONARCHY    373 

should  forfeit  his  fief  in  Normandy.  This  rich  province, 
from  which  the  conquerors  of  England  had  come,  reverted 
to  the  crown,  and  Brittany  also  became  an  immediate 
fief  of  the  French  crown  (1204).  Poitou,  Touraine,  and 
Anjou  were  also  easily  occupied.  This  was  the  most 
brilliant  conquest  a  King  of  France  had  made.  In  retali- 
ation John  formed  an  alliance  against  France  with  his 
nephew,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  Otto  of  Brunswick, 
and  the  lords  of  the  Netherlands.  Philip  assembled  a 
great  army,  wherein  the  militia  of  the  communes  held 
their  place  and  gained  at  Bouvines,  between  Lille  and 
Tournay,  a  victory  whose  influence  throughout  the  coun- 
try was  enormous.  This  was  the  first  national  achieve- 
ment of  France  (1214).  Before  his  death  Philip  Augus- 
tus had  extended  the  French  Kingdom  to  the  Pyrenees 
and  the  Mediterranean.  The  university  had  been 
founded,  the  supremacy  of  French  royal  rule  concentrated 
by  the  verdict  of  the  peers  against  John,  the  Kingdom  sub- 
jected to  a  regular  organization  by  division  for  adminis- 
trative purposes,  and  Paris  was  embellished,  paved,  and 
surrounded  by  a  wall.  France  began  to  be  a  great  nation, 
inspired  with  that  longing  for  military  glory  which  has 
so  often  proved  her  bane. 

Louis  IX  of  France  was  remarkable  for  the  virtues 
least  conspicuous  in  his  time  and  rank — gentleness,  meek- 
ness, compassion,  humility,  equity,  and  public  spirit.  He 
was  at  once  handsome  in  face,  accomplished  in  literature 
and  art,  diligent  in  business,  brave  in  battle,  forbearing  and 
even  self-sacrificing  after  victory,  munificent  in  bounty  at 
his  own  expense  and  not  at  his  people's  charges,  strictly 
just  toward  the  great  feudal  lords,  whose  pride  and  power 
it  was  his  policy  to  lower,  saintly  in  life  and  devoted  to 
the  church's  real  interests,  and  yet  firm  in  resistance  to 
.what  he  held  to  be  unwarrantable  claims.  This  wonder- 


374      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

fill  union  of  qualities  greatly  increased  the  power  of  the 
crown  through  the  moral  influence  which  they  exerted. 
Louis  IX  ruled  from  1226  to  1270.  During  the  early 
part  of  his  reign  the  French  dominions  were  extended  to 
the  Mediterranean  by  the  cession  of  the  territory  of 
Toulouse.  Amongst  his  other  services  to  France,  St. 
Louis  had  a  code  of  laws  compiled  which  put  an  end  to 
the  feudal  nuisances  of  private*  war  between  barons,  and 
trial  by  the  wager  of  battle. 

Philip  the  Fair  (reigned  1285-1314)  was  a  strong 
contrast  to  St.  Louis,  in  his  high-handed  dealing  with  his 
subjects  and  his  foes;  but  his  policy,  too,  increased  greatly 
the  power  of  France.  Under  him  the  rights  of  the  people 
in  the  towns  were  first  recognized  in  the  political  creation 
of  the  Tiers  Etat — the  Third  Estate  or  political  class,  the 
previous  two  being  the  nobles  and  the  priests;  and  in  1302 
the  first  French  Parliament  or  States-General,  consisting 
of  nobility,  clergy,  and  burghers  (or  freemen  of  the 
towns)  assembled  in  Paris.  Widely  different  was  the 
fate  of  this  French  Parliament  proved  from  that  in  Eng- 
land, whose  powers  steadily  grew.  Philip  le  Bel  waged 
a  fierce  contest  with  Pope  Boniface  VIII  respecting  the 
papal  claims,  and,  after  hastening  his  death  by  violently 
seizing  him  in  his  palace  at  Rome,  brought  the  papacy  for 
a  time  in  subjection  to  France.  It  was  now  (1304)  that 
there  began,  and  for  seventy  years  continued,  to  be  Popes 
at  Avignon,  in  Provence,  instead  of  at  Rome,  with  some- 
times a  rival  Pope  also  at  Rome — a  state  of  things  which 
lowered  the  position  of  the  papacy  before  the  world.  Dur- 
ing this  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair  feudalism  further  de- 
clined, and  the  power  of  the  crown  in  France  grew. 

England  and  France,  both  strong — one  by  the  prog- 
ress of  royal  power,  and  the  other  by  that  of  public  lib- 
erty— found  themselves  at  war  for  more  than  a  hundred 


CONSOLIDATION  FRENCH  MONARCHY    375 

years,  from  1328  to  1453.  This  is  the  war  known  as  the 
Hundred  Years'  War,  which  the  boldness  and  rashness 
of  the  French  nobility  rendered  so  glorious  for  England, 
but  which  ended  in  the  acquirement  of  great  power  by 
French  Kings  and  the  consolidation  of  the  country  into 
one  powerful  nation.  As  grandson  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
Edward  III  laid  claim  to  the  crown  of  France,  for  the 
Salic  law  did  not  then  have  the  importance  which  it  gained 
later.  However,  on  the  accession  of  Philip  of  Valois,  he 
appeared  to  abandon  it,  and  rendered  feudal  homage  for 
the  Duchy  of  Guyenne  to  the  King  of  France.  Never- 
theless, Edward  cherished  a  secret  hope  of  supplanting 
him,  and  in  this  he  was  encouraged  by  the  refugee,  Robert 
of  Artois,  despoiled  of  the  Earldom  of  Artois,  and  by  the 
Flemings,  who,  having  need  of  English  wool  for  their 
industries,  revolted  under  Jacques  Artveld,  the  brewer, 
against  their  Count,  the  friend  of  France,  and  acknowl- 
edged Edward  as  their  legitimate  King. 

The  war  was  fought  as  one  of  attack  by  England  and 
of  defense  by  France.  English  expeditions  landed  on  the 
French  coast  with  varying  success.  In  1346  the  famous 
battle  of  Crecy  was  fought,  where  the  English  yeomanry 
with  their  long-bows  did  such  valiant  work,  while  the 
feudal  army  of  the  French  recoiled  before  the  pitiless 
storm  of  English  arrows.  Calais  was  captured  as  a  result, 
and  the  French,  being  driven  out,  it  became  an  English 
settlement,  and  for  200  years  afforded  the  English  an  open 
door  into  the  heart  of  France.  At  the  battle  of  Poitiers 
(1356),  John  was  made  captive,  and  before  the  close  of 
the  first  period  after  the  death  of  Edward  (1377),  France 
was  reduced  to  bankruptcy,  the  nobility  excited  to  rebel- 
lion, and  the  mass  of  the  people  sunk  in  barbarism. 
Debasement  of  the  coinage,  onerous  taxation,  and  arbi- 
trary conscriptions  brought  the  country  to  the  verge  of 


376      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

irretrievable  ruin,  while  the  victories  of  England  humbled 
the  sovereign,  annihilated  the  French  armies,  and  cut  down 
the  flower  of  the  Nation. 

Like  the  Peloponnesian  War,  the  One  Hundred  Years' 
War  was  not  one  long  struggle,  but  was  rather  a  series 
of  wars,  with  truces  in  which  the  combatants,  worn  out 
by  the  fighting,  prepared  for  further  warfare.  One  of 
these  truces  was  due  to  the  ravages  of  the  "Black  Death," 
a  terrible  plague  that  swept  over  Europe.  This,  the  most 
terrible  plague  of  sickness  that  has  ever  ravaged  Europe, 
first  appeared  in  1346  in  India  and  China,  and  thence 
made  its  way  through  Asia  and  into  Europe.  The  habits 
of  an  age  which  knew  nothing  of  the  destructive  nature 
of  "dirt  in  the  wrong  place,"  or  of  the  merits  of  pure 
water  and  pure  air,  rendered  every  street  and  house  in  the 
towns  a  hot-bed  for  the  propagation  of  fever  in  its  most 
deadly  form.  The  visitation  of  Italy  by  the  pest  in  1348 
has  been  vividly  described  by  Boccaccio  in  his  introduction 
to  the  Decameron.  There  was  no  country  in  which  at 
least  one-third  of  the  inhabitants  were  not  destroyed.  The 
population  of  England,  as  far  as  can  be  judged,  was  about 
4,000,000,  and  of  these  one-half  were  swept  away.  The 
crops  were  left  to  rot  for  want  of  laborers  to  cut  them, 
and  town  and  country  were  full  of  desolation,  mourning, 
and  woe.  Travelers  in  Germany  found  cities  and  villages 
without  a  living  inhabitant.  At  sea  ships  were  discov- 
ered adrift,  their  entire  crews  having  died  of  pestilence. 
The  mad  passions  of  men  were  stayed  in  the  presence  of 
this  fearful  scourge. 

After  the  plague  the  long  and  weak  minority  of  Rich- 
ard II  diverted  the  English  from  the  prosecution  of  the 
groundless  claims  to  the  Kingdom  of  France,  but  during 
the  minority  of  Charles  VI  (1380-1422)  the  war  was 
renewed  with  increased  vigor  on  the  part  of  the  English, 


CONSOLIDATION  FRENCH  MONARCHY    377 

who  were  stimulated  by  the  daring  valor  of  Henry  V. 
The  signal  victory  won  by  the  English  at  Agincourt  in 
1415,  the  treason  and  rebellion  of  the  French  Princes  of 
the  blood,  who  governed  the  larger  provinces;  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  several  regents,  the  ultimate  imbecility  of  the 
King,  the  profligacy  of  his  Queen,  and  the  love  of  pleasure 
early  evinced  by  the  Dauphin — all  these  combined  to  aid 
Henry  in  his  attempts  upon  the  throne.  But  the  prema- 
ture death  of  Henry,  the  persevering  spirit  of  the  people, 
and  the  extraordinary  influence  exercised  over  her  coun- 
trymen by  Joan  of  Arc,*  concurred  in  bringing  about  a 
thorough  reaction.  After  a  period  of  murder,  rapine,  and 
anarchy,  Charles  VII  was  crowned  at  Rheims.  He 
obtained  from  the  States-General  a  regular  tax  (taille) 
for  the  maintenance  of  paid  soldiers,  to  keep  in  check  the 
mercenaries  arid  robbers  who  pillaged  the  country.  The 
policy  of  his  successor,  Louis  XI  (1461-83),  favored  the 
burgher  and  trading  classes  at  the  expense  of  the  nobles, 
while  he  humbled  the  power  of  the  vassal  princes.  He 
was  a  crafty  ruler,  who  managed  the  finances  well,  and 
succeeded  in  obtaining  for  the  crown  the  territories  of 
Maine,  Anjou,  and  Provence, 'while  he  made  himself 
master  of  some  portions  of  the  territories  of  Charles  the 
Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Charles  VIII  (1483-98),  by 
his  marriage  with  Anne  of  Brittany,  secured  that  power- 
ful State  and  consolidated  the  increasing  power  of  the 
crown.  With  him  ended  the  direct  male  succession  of 
the  house  of  Valois.  Louis  XII  (1498-1515)  was  the 
only  representative  of  the  Valois-Orleans  family.  The 
tendency  of  his  reign  was  to  confirm  the  regal  suprem- 
acy, while  the  general  condition  of  the  people  was 
ameliorated. 

*  See  "Famous  Women  of  the  World." 


PROGRESS  OF  ROYALTY  IN  ENGLAND 

The  national  feeling  of  the  English,  in  abeyance  dur- 
ing the  political  disturbances  of  Edward  II's  reign,  reas- 
serted itself  in  the  ambitious  efforts  of  Edward  III  to 
place  himself  upon  the  throne  of  France,  and  was  strength- 
ened by  the  brilliant  victories  which  attended  them. 
Though  the  victories  were  useless  and  the  war  a  series 
of  raids  rather  than  a  well-planned  conquest,  the  effects 
at  home  were  of  great  importance.  The  continual  want 
of  money  forced  the  crown  to  grant  frequent  concessions 
to  the  Parliament.  The  practice  was  now  introduced  of 
either  house  originating  statutes  under  the  name  of  bills 
and  these  proposed  measures,  after  being  passed  or 
approved  by  a  majority  of  votes  in  both  lords  and  com- 
mons, were  presented  to  the  sovereign  for  his  assent  with- 
out his  alteration  of  their  terms.  It  was  also  established 
that  the  sovereign  should  in  no  way  interfere  with  mat- 
ters under  discussion  jn  Parliament,  and  that  freedom 
of  speech  in  debate  should  be  enjoyed  by  members  of  the 
commons.  Toward  the  end  of  this  period  the  judges  are 
found  fully  recognizing  parliamentary  rights.  The  spirit 
of  the  people  was  raised  by  successes  in  France,  and  the 
life  of  the  soldier  played  an  important  part  in  liberating 
the  lower  orders  from  serfdom.  The  villanage  of  early 
times  had  been  gradually  declining,  and  rent  and  wages 
were  taking  the  place  of  Villain  tenure  and  forced  service. 
The  terrible  ravages  of  the  Black  Death  upset  for  a  while 
the  economical  arrangement  of  the  country,  and  the 
attempt  to  drive  back  the  liberated  serf  to  his  old  position 
caused  the  great  rising  of  Wat  Tyler  in  1381.  The  insur- 

378 


ROYALTY  IN  ENGLAND  379 

rection  was  suppressed,  but  a  death  blow  was  practically 
dealt  to  serfdom.  In  close  connection  with  this  upheaval 
of  the  working  classes  was  the  movement  in  opposition 
to  the  Church.  The  doctrines  of  Wyclif  and  the  Lollards, 
so  much  in  harmony  with  the  democratic  union,  could  not 
fail  largely  to  influence  it,  and  for  a  while  hostility  to  the 
Church  played  a  considerable  part  in  parliamentary  his- 
tory. 

The  completion  of  constitutional  system  marked  by 
the  accession  of  Henry  IV  did  not  prevent  the  recurrence 
o£  disorder,  but  during  the  reign  of  his  son  full  harmony 
existed  between  the  King  and  the  people.  The  disturb- 
ance which  had  broken  out  in  France  afforded  an  oppor- 
tunity for  renewing  the  war,  and  Henry  V  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  carrying  the  people  with  him  in  his  victorious 
attack  upon  that  country.  A  statesman  as  well  as  a  con- 
queror, his  progress  was  very  different  from  that  of 
Edward  III.  The  treaty  of  Troyes  seemed  to  promise  the 
ultimate  union  of  the  two  Kingdoms,  but  the  work  of  con- 
solidation was  scarcely  begun  when  the  great  King  died, 
intimating  to  those  who  should  carry  on  the  work  that 
the  occupation  of  Normandy  should  be  the  limit  of  their 
aims.  The  foreign  success  and  domestic  harmony  was 
of  short  duration,  for  the  power  of  the  nobles  as  feudal- 
ists had  disappeared.  They  were  still  too  strong  to  accept 
easily  the  cooperation  of  the  other  orders  in  a  national 
system  except  from  the  hands  of  a  powerful  ruler.  Their 
strength  had  been  increased  by  the  great  position  given 
to  the  royal  princes.  The  parliamentary  establishment 
of  the  younger  branch  upon  the  throne  had  opened  the 
door  to  rival  claims  of  hereditary  succession.  A  strong 
government  \vas  scarcely  possible  during  the  infancy  of 
Henry  VI,  especially  as  the  Council  of  Regency  found  in 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester  a  man  of  ill-regulated  ambition 


3So      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

and  an  opponent  with  whom  it  was  difficult  to  deal.  His 
greater  brother,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  devoted  himself 
chiefly  to  the  affairs  of  France,  and,  though  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  some  degree  of  order  in  England, 
his  early  death  was  the  signal  for  an  outbreak  with  which 
the  Council  and  subsequently  the  young  King  proved  una- 
ble to  cope. 

Continual  disaster  in  France  still  further  discredited 
the  government.  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  believed  the 
moment  had  come  to  assert  his  right  to  the  throne,  which 
was  really  superior  to  that  of  Lancaster,  who  descended 
only  from  the  third  son  of  Edward  II,  while  York  was 
the  descendant  of  the  second  in  the  female  line  and  of  the 
fourth  in  the  male.  He  impeached  through  the  House 
of  Commons  the  King's  favorite  minister,  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk.  The  court  having  permitted  the  flight  of  the 
accused,  he  was  recaptured  on  the  high  seas  by  an  English 
vessel,  whose  crew  seized  him,  judged  him  and  beheaded 
him  (1450).  At  the  same  time  an  Irishman,  Jack  Cade, 
razed  the  County  of  Kent,  gathered  nearly  60,000  men, 
and  for  several  days  was  master  of  London.  The  pillage 
of  this  mob  aroused  everyone  against  them,  and  an 
amnesty  offered  by  the  King  led  to  their  dispersion.  Their 
chief  was  taken  and  executed  (1459).  It  was  said  that 
he  was  an  agent  of  the  Duke  of  York.  The  King,  hav- 
ing an  attack  of  sickness,  Richard  had  himself  proclaimed 
Protector  (1454)  and  when  the  King,  restored  to  health, 
wished  to  resume  his  power,  he  took  arms,  aided  by  the 
nobility,  especially  by  Warwick,  surnamed  the  King- 
maker, who  was  rich  enough  to  feed  daily  on  his  land 
30,000  people.  Victorious  at  St.  Albans  (1455),  the  first 
battle  of  this  war  (known  as  the  War  of  the  Roses),  and 
master  of  the  person  of  the  King,  Richard  had  his  title 
of  Protector  confirmed  by  the  Parliament,  and  after  a 


ROYALTY  IN  ENGLAND  381 

second  battle  in  Northampton  (1460),  had  himself 
declared  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne.  Margaret  pro- 
tested in  the  name  of  her  son,  and,  aided  by  the  Scotch 
(whom  she  bought  by  the  cession  of  Berwick  Castle), 
she  defeated  and  killed  Richard  at  Wakefield.  The  rebel's 
head  was  exposed  on  the  walls  of  York,  ornamented  with 
a  paper  crown.  His  young  son,  the  Earl  of  Rutland, 
scarcely  eighteen  years  old,  was  killed  in  cold  blood. 
Henceforth  the  massacre  of  prisoners,  the  proscription  of 
the  vanquished,  and  the  confiscation  of  their  property 
became  the  rule  of  both  parties. 

Richard,  Duke  of  York,  was  avenged  by  his  eldest  son, 
who  had  himself  proclaimed  King  in  London  under  the 
name  of  Edward  IV.  The  Lancastrians,  victorious  at 
the  second  battle  of  St.  Albans,  experienced  that  same 
year  (1461),  a  bloody  defeat  at  Towton.  Margaret  fled 
to  Scotland,  and  from  thence  to  France,  where  Louis  XI 
lent  her  2,000  soldiers  on  her  promise  to  surrender  Cal- 
ais. The  battle  of  Hexam  destroyed  her  hopes,  although 
she  was  able  to  regain  the  continent,  while  Henry  VI, 
prisoner  for  the  third  time,  was  confined  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  where  he  remained  for  seven  years.  The  new 
King  offended.  Warwick,  who  took  arms  against  him, 
defeated  him  at  Nottingham  (1470),  and  forced  him  to 
flee  to  the  Netherlands  to  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  of 
Burgundy.  Parliament,  always  docile  to  the  will  of  the 
strongest,  reestablished  Henry  VI  on  the  throne.  This 
triumph  of  the  Lancastrians  was  short.  Their  violence 
excited  great  discontent,  which  permitted  Edward  to  re- 
turn with  a  small  army,  which  Charles  the  Bold  had  helped 
him  to  raise.  Warwick  surrendered  at  Barnet,  and  Mar- 
garet was  no  more  fortunate  at  Tewksbury.  This  last 
victory  had  decisive  results.  The  Prince  of  Wales  had  been 
murdered,  Henry  VI  dead,  Margaret  in  prison,  the  parti- 


382      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

sans  of  the  Red  Rose  killed  or  outlawed,  and  Edward  IV 
remained  the  peaceable  possessor  of  the  throne.  The  rest 
of  his  reign  was  noteworthy  for  the  expedition  to  France, 
which  ended  in  the  treaty  of  Pecquigny  ( 1475),  and  with 
the  trial  of  his  brother  Clarence,  whom  he  put  to  death. 
As  for  Edward  himself  he  died  a  victim  of  his  debauches 
in  1483. 

Richard  of  York,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  brother  of 
Edward  IV,  took  advantage  of  the  youth  of  Edward's 
children  to  supplant  them,  after  which  he  had  them  smoth- 
ered in  the  Tower  of  London.  This  usurpation  gave  rise 
to  trouble  among  the  Yorkists.  Buckingham  revolted  and 
sent  for  the  Frenchman,  Henry  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond, 

the  last  scion  of  the  female  line  of  the  Lancastrian  house. 
Henry  raised  in  Brittany  2,000  men,  landed  in  Wales, 

and  defeated  Richard  III  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth 
(1485),  Richard  dying  on  the  battlefield.  Henry  VII 
reunited  the  two  roses  by  marrying  the  heiress  of  York, 
son  of  Edward  IV,  and  founded  the  Tudor  dynasty, 
who  reigned  for  118  years,  until  the  succession  of  the 
Stuarts.  They  had  only  to  suppress  some  obscure  revolts 
raised  by  impostors,  such  as  Lambert  Simnel  and  Perkin 
Warbeck,  and  they  reigned  as  masters  over  the  ruins  of 
the  decimated  aristocracy.  Eighty  persons  allied  by  blood 
to  the  royal  family  had  perished.  Nearly  one-fifth  of  the 
lands  in  the  Kingdom  had  reverted  by  confiscation  to  the 
domain  of  the  crown.  English  royalty  found  itself  then 
at  the  end  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  with  more  resources 
at  its  disposition  and  fewer  adversaries  to  fear. 

Henry  VII  assembled  Parliament  but  rarely,  and  the 
money  which  he  did  not  wish  to  ask  of  them  for  fear 
of  placing  himself  in  their  power,  he  procured  by  forced 
loans  or  benefits,  and  by  confiscations  which  he  multiplied  on 
all  sorts  of  pretexts.  The  Star  Chamber  became  a  tribu^ 


ROYALTY  IN  ENGLAND  383 

nal  devoted  to  him  to  strike  down  those  whom  the  jury 
system  did  not  permit  him  to  reach.  Two  measures  com- 
pleted the  ruin  of  the  aristocracy:  The  abolition  of  the 
right  of  maintenance,  which  permitted  the  nobles  to  keep 
around  them  an  army  of  servitors  with  which  they  rav- 
aged the  country,  and  the  abolition  of  the  right  of  sub- 
stitution, which  prevented  the  alienation  and  partition  of 
estates.  Henry  encouraged  commerce  and  industry,  in 
which  the  nation  engaged  with  eagerness,  by  the  treaties 
which  he  made,  by  voyages  of  discovery  which  he  sent 
out,  and  by  the  impetus  which  he  gave  to  shipping.  He 
prepared  the  way  for  the  union  of  Scotland  to  England 
by  marrying  his  daughter,  Margaret,  to  James  IV  of  Scot- 
land, the  union  whence  came  the  rights  of  the  Stuarts  to 
the  crown  of  England,  to  which  they  succeeded  in  1603. 
Another  marriage,  that  of  his  eldest  son,  and  after  the 
death  of  that  young  prince,  his  second  son,  to  Catherine 
of  Aragon,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  had 
graver  consequences.  Henry  VII  died  in  1506.  Perfidi- 
ous, rapacious  and  cruel,  without  grandeur  in  mind  or 
action  to  redeem  his  vices,  he  founded,  like  Louis  XI  in 
France  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  in  Spain,  the  absolute 
government  which  in  England  had  its  period  of  brilliancy 
under  Elizabeth. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  OTHER   EUROPEAN   NA- 
TIONS 

The  line  of  the  Hohenstaufen,  or  Dukes  of  Suabia, 
ruled  the  German  Empire  from  1 138  to  1254,  and  included 
some  of  the  greatest  sovereigns  of  German  history.  Of 
these,  Frederick  I  (surnamed  Barbarossa,  or  Redbeard) 
reigned  from  1152  to  1190.  The  principal  aim  of  his 
political  life  was  to  extend  and  confirm  his  sway  in  Italy, 
where  he  had  much  warfare  with  the  powerful  and  rebel- 
lious cities  of  Lombardy,  which  had  become  almost  inde- 
pendent commonwealths.  In  1162  he  destroyed  the  city 
of  Milan;  in  1176  he  was  defeated  by  the  Lombard 
League  at  the  battle  of  Legnano,  on  the  Adige,  losing 
thereby  nearly  all  that  he  had  won;  in  1183  Barbarossa 
made  the  Treaty  of  Constance  (in  Suabia)  with  the 
towns  of  Lombardy,  by  which  they  acquired  the  right 
of  self-government,  and  acknowledged  the  emperor's 
supremacy  and  a  limited  right  of  taxation.  In  1190 
Frederick  Barbarossa  perished  by  drowning,  in  the  Third 
Crusade.  He  was  proud,  brave,  and  liberal;  serene  alike 
in  good  and  evil  fortune;  of  noble  mien;  a  constant  friend 
of  literature. 

Frederick  II  ruled  the  Empire  from  1215  to  1250.  His 
high  ambition  aimed  at  the  subjugation  of  Lombardy,  the 
mastership  of  all  Italy,  and  the  reduction  of  the  Popes  to 
their  old  spiritual  office  as  the  leading  Bishops  of  Chris- 
tendom. This  led  him  into  constant  struggles  in  Germany 
and  in  Italy.  In  1237  Frederick  II  broke  the  power  of  the 
Lombard  League  by  a  victory  at  Corte  Nuova,  in  Lom- 
bardy, and  his  army  besieged  Rome  in  1241.  Rebellion 

384 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  NATIONS    385 

in  Germany,  combined  with  fierce  opposition  in  Italy  and 
the  desertion  of  old  adherents,  at  last  wore  down  his 
spirit,  and  he  died  in  the  south  of  Italy  in  1250.  Fred- 
erick II  of  Germany  was,  in  person  and  character,  a  good 
specimen  of  Middle  Age  sovereigns — courageous,  cul- 
tured, just;  as  a  man,  and  toward  the  church,  he  is  open 
to  the  charges  of  sensuality,  irreverence,  and  scepticism, 
which  have  caused  Dante,  in  his  "Inferno,"  to  assign  to 
him  a  fiery  grave  of  punishment.  He  was  "the  ablest 
and  most  accomplished  of  the  long  line  of  German  Caesars, 
and  had  in  vain  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  military 
and  political  skill  in  the  attempt  to  defend  the  rights  of 
the  civil  power  against  the  encroachments  of  the  church." 
He  was  an  earnest  supporter  of  literature,  the  arts,  com- 
merce, and  agriculture,  and  in  this  way  greatly  benefited 
his  realm.  In  1254  the  Suabian  line  of  Emperors  ended 
with  Frederick's  son  Conrad.  A  period  of  confusion  fol- 
lowed, arising  from  disputed  succession,  until  12^3,  and 
the  power  of  the  Empire  (which  may  be  called  either 
German  or  Roman)  as  the  chief  State  of  Europe  comes  to 
an  end  with  the  loss  of  dominion  in  Italy  and  the  rise  of 
France. 

Hapsburg  is  a  small  place  in  the  present  Swiss  canton 
of  Aargau  (then  in  Suabia),  and  in  1273  Rudolph,  Count 
of  Hapsburg,  was  elected  Emperor  of  Germany.  He  was 
founder  of  the  present  reigning  house  of  Austria. 
Neither  he  nor  any  of  his  successors  for  a  long  time  is 
of  much  consequence  in  history.  The  power  of  the 
Empire  in  Italy  was  gone,  and  became  ever  less  in  Ger- 
many, as  the  Princes  asserted  their  rights  to  independence 
or  increased  dignity.  Many  of  the  so-called  Emperors 
were  never  crowned  at  Rome  at  all.  When  the  Dukes  of 
Austria  had  become  powerful,  the  electors  always  chose 

the  Emperor  from  that  house.     The  long  reign  of  Fred- 
Voi,.  1  —  25 


386      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

erick  III  (1440-1493)  takes  us  out  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  importance  of  the  Empire  henceforth  is  derived  from 
the  power  held  by  its  head  in  States  both  inside  and  outside 
its  olden  limits,  as  Duke  of  Austria,  King  of  Hungary, 
and  otherwise. 

Early  in  the  Fourteenth  Century  a  gallant  little  State, 
still  a  free  and  flourishing  Republic,  steps  forth  with  honor 
to  make  a  first  appearance  on  the  stage  of  history.  The 
mountaineers  of  Switzerland  then  fought  for  and  won  the 
beginnings  of  liberty  for  their  country.  The  center  of  the 
land  was  under  the  control  of  the  Dukes  of  Austria,  of 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  when  the  three  forest  cantons  of 
Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unterwalden  made  (in  1291)  a  league 
for  the  defense  of  their  rights.  In  1315  their  forces 
gained  the  great  victory  of  Morgarten  (south  of  Lake  of 
Zurich)  over  invading  Austrian  troops,  and  in  1318  their 
independence  of  the  Hapsburgs  was  acknowledged. 
Other  cantons  and  cities  joined  them.  The  confedera- 
tion consisted  then  of  eight  members  till  1481,  when 
Fribourg  and  Solothurn  joined  them,  the  country  of  the 
league  acquiring  in  time  the  name  of  Switzerland,  from 
the  one  canton  Schwyz,  which  had  taken  a  leading 
part  in  gaining  freedom  for  the  rest.  Further  attacks 
were  victoriously  dealt  with,  as  when  the  Swiss  (in  1386) 
utterly  defeated  Leopold  III  of  Austria  at  Sempach  (in 
Lucerne),  and  routed  the  Austrians  again  at  Nafels  (in 
north  of  Glarus)  in  1388.  The  country  still  nominally 
formed  part  of  the  German  Empire,  but  was  virtually 
independent. 

At  the  end  of  the  Fourteenth  Century,  Burgundy, 
after  many  changes,  had  become  a  powerful  Duchy  tinder 
a  French  Prince  of  the  Valois  line,  with  great  advantages 
of  position  as  a  border  State  between  Germany  and  France. 
The  Dukes  of  Burgundy  were  also  rulers  of  the  great 


commercial  cities  of  Flanders,  and  ranked  among  the 
wealthiest  and  most  influential  Princes  of  Europe.  An 
invasion  of  Burgundy  by  the  Swiss,  as  allies  of  Louis  XI 
of  France,  brought  them  into  collision  with  the  famous 
restless  warrior,  Charles  the  Bold,  whose  ambitious 
schemes  aimed  at  annexation  of  territory  all  round  his 
Duchy.  The  result  was  as  disastrous  to  Burgundy  as  it 
was  fortunate  and  glorious  for  Switzerland.  In  1476  the 
Burgundians  were  beaten  in  two  great  fights  at  Granson, 
on  the  southwest  shore  of  Lake  of  Neufchatel,  and  at 
Morat,  or  Murten,  in  the  north  of  Fribourg.  In  1477  the 
struggle  ended  with  the  defeat  and  death  of  Charles  the 
Bold  at  Nancy,  where  the  Swiss  troops  fought  on  the  side 
of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine.  Henceforth  the  soldiers  of  the 
Swiss  confederation  possessed  for  centuries  the  name  for 
skill,  discipline,  and  valor,  which  made  them  sought  after 
by  European  powers  as  mercenary  troops.  Switzerland 
became  formally  separated  from  the  Empire  in  1499.  The 
Duchy  of  Burgundy  was  now  joined  to  the  Kingdom  of 
France,  and  the  history  of  Burgundy  as  a  power  in  Euro- 
pean affairs  comes  to  an  end  with  the  close  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  victories  of  the  Swiss  infantry  over  the 
chivalry  of  Burgundy  at  the  close  of  the  Fifteenth  Century 
added  conclusive  proof  to  previous  signs  that  a  revolution 
had  been  taking  place  in  the  art  of  war.  The  spell  of 
centuries  was  at  last  dissolved;  the  most  experienced  gen- 
erals were  astounded  to  find  the  mountaineers  of  Switzer- 
land receiving  the  shock  of  heavy  cavalry  on  a  forest  of 
pikes,  which  proved  to  be  impenetrable;  and  from  this  time 
the  mainstay  of  Nations  in  war  became  their  foot,  and  not 
their  horse. 

The  cities  of  Northern  Italy  rose  to  greatness  and 
wealth  by  commerce  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  a  successful 
struggle  was  maintained  by  the  Lombard  League  with  the 


38S      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

Emperor  Frederick  I  (Barbarossa),  ending  with  the 
Treaty  of  Constance  in  1183,  which  left  those  cities  vir- 
tually independent.  The  Italian  cities  took  a  great  part 
in  the  long  contest  between  the  Popes  and  the  Emperors, 
and  it  is  in  connection  with  this  subject  that  we  meet  with 
the  names  of  Guelphs,  or  Guelf  s,  and  Ghibellines.  These 
names,  like  the  fight  between  feudalism  and  freedom,  of 
which  they  are  the  symbols,  were  of  German  origin.  In 
a  contest  of  the  Saxons  and  others  against  Conrad  III  of 
Germany,  the  rebels  had  a  leader  named  Welf  (in  Italian 
Guelf),  and  used  his  name  as  a  war-cry.  Conrad's  sup- 
porters took  the  cry  of  Waiblingen  (changed  in  Italian 
into  Ghibelin  or  Ghibelline),  the  name  of  a  village  where 
fheir  leader,  Duke  Frederick  of  Suabia,  was  brought  up. 
Guelfs  thus  came  to  mean  opponents  of  the  Emperor,  and 
Ghibellines,  supporters  of  the  Emperor.  When  Frederick 
Barbarossa  tried  to  force  back  the  leagued  Italian  free 
cities  under  feudal  government,  the  popular  party  in  Italy 
became  that  of  the  Guelfs,  and  the  Italian  feudal  party 
were  the  Ghibellines.  The  Popes,  for  their  own  purposes, 
sided  with  the  Italian  free  cities  against  the  Emperors,  and 
so  the  Guelfs  mean  also  the  supporters  of  the  Popes,  and 
Ghibellines  the  partisans  of  the  Emperors,  in  the  long 
struggle  for  supremacy  in  Italy  between  the  church  and 
the  Empire,  which  ended  in  the  success  of  the  ecclesiastical 
power  and  its  allies,  the  Guelfs.  Between  the  two  parlies, 
the  Italian  cities  themselves  became  afterward,  to  their 
great  injury,  long  divided  in  rancorous  feuds;  the  Ghibel- 
lines contending  for  the  acceptance  of  imperial  rule  in 
the  interests  of  unity  and  order,  the  Guelfs  insisting  on  the 
right  of  self-government,  and  jealously  watching  munic- 
ipal privileges. 

After  the  downfall  of  the  Western  Empire  of  Rome, 
when  it  became  overrun  by  the  northern  barbarians,  Italy 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  NATIONS    389 

had  either  preserved  in  a  remarkable  degree,  or  had  recov- 
ered with  great  rapidity,  the  blessings  of  civilization  and 
freedom.  In  some  quarters  these  seem  never  to  have 
wholly  disappeared,  and,  when  ignorance  and  feudalism 
were  rampant  in  other  parts  of  Western  Europe,  the  towns 
of  Northern  Italy  were  marked  by  a  democratic  spirit, 
even  when  the  form  of  government  was  monarchical  or 
aristocratic,  and  in  the  times  of  the  Crusades,  the  rising 
commonwealths  of  the  Adriatic  and  Tyrrhene  Seas — 
Venice,  Genoa,  Florence,  and  Pisa — acquired  a  large 
increase  of  wealth,  dominion,  and  knowledge.  Of  all 
these  flourishing  States,  the  chief  were  Venice  and  Flor- 
ence. 

Venice  was  not  only  the  leading  maritime  power  of  the 
world  in  the  last  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  acquired,  in 
the  Fifteenth  Century,  a  large  dominion  on  land  in  the 
northeast  of  Italy.  The  form  of  government  was  that  of  an 
oligarchy,  in  which  a  few  hundred  patricians  chose  a  Sen- 
ate from  their  own  number,  and  from  the  Senators  a  Doge 
(Venetian  dialect  for  Duke)  and  Council  of  Ten  were 
selected,  and  then  the  ten  chose  from  their  own  number  a 
Council  of  Three.  This  Council  of  Ten  has  become 
proverbial  for  a  body  of  secret,  dreaded,  and  irresponsible 
tyrants.  Neither  the  Senate  nor  the  Doge  knew  who 
formed  the  Council  of  Three,  and  a  complete  system  of 
espionage  existed  over  the  actions,  words,  and  very  looks 
of  the  citizens.  The  famous  "Lions'  Mouths"  of  Venice 
were  two  small  slits  in  a  wall  at  the  palace,  into  which 
were  thrust  at  night  the  anonymous  denunciations  written 
by  those  who  wished  to  be  rid  of  an  enemy  through  the 
action  of  the  Council  of  Three.  The  members  of  this 
fearful  tribunal  met  at  night,  masked  and  robed  in  scarlet 
cloaks,  to  judge  those  accused  of  political  crimes,  and 
there  was  no  appeal  from  their  sentence.  The  executione.r 

\  --  "          T   *  *       '       *    -  "  •"       '•  *  -'  *          . 


390      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

led  the  condemned  across  the  "Bridge  of  Sighs"  to  his 
dungeon,  where  he  disappeared  from  human  eyes  forever- 
more.  Under  the  sway  of  the  Council  of  Ten,  the  Doge 
himself  had  little  power,  and  the  body  of  the  people  had 
none  at  all.  Nevertheless,  the  oligarchy  succeeded  in 
choosing  skillful  commanders  and  statesmen  to  head  the 
fleets  and  transact  the  business  of  the  Republic,  and  Venice 
retained  her  power  unimpaired  till  after  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Florence — the  great  example  in  the  Middle  Ages  of  a 
democratic  republic,  as  Venice  was  of  an  aristocratic  or 
oligarchic  commonwealth — was  the  Athens  of  the 
mediaeval  world.  In  the  Fifteenth  Century  a  mercantile 
family  named  the  Medicis  rose  to  chief  power  in  the  State, 
and  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  a  princely  merchant  and  popular 
citizen,  came  to  the  head  of  affairs  in  1434.  Cosmo  is 
known  as  the  "Father  of  his  country,"  and  he  transmitted 
his  power  to  his  descendants  for  some  generations.  He 
is  renowned  as  the  liberal  and  judicious  patron  of  men  of 
learning,  philosophers,  artists,  and  lovers  of  science.  He 
employed  agents  in  all  quarters  for  the  collection  of  manu- 
scripts in  Greek,  Latin,  and  the  Oriental  tongues,  and  these 
treasures  of  literature  formed  the  basis  of  the  famous 
Laurentian  or  Medicean  Library.  Large  sums  of  money 
were  expended  by  him  in  adorning  Florence  with  splendid 
buildings  for  civil  and  religious  uses.  Under  the  rule  of 
the  Medicis,  the  great  Tuscan  city  became  a  center  of 
political,  intellectual,  and  commercial  life,  such  as  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  has  seldom  seen.  The  revenue  of  the 
Florentine  Republic  exceeded  that  which  was  yielded 
annually  to  Elizabeth  by  her  Kingdoms  of  England  and 
Ireland.  The  manufacture  of  wool  employed  30,000 
workmen,  and  the  annual  sale  of  cloth  amounted,  at  pres- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  NATIONS    391 

ent  values,  to  two  and  a  half  millions  sterling.  Eighty 
banks  managed  the  financial  business,  both  of  Florence  and 
of  merchants  in  every  trading  mart  of  Europe.  Edward 
III  of  England  borrowed  large  sums  of  Florentine  firms. 
The  schools  were  flourishing.  A  rivalry  existed  amongst 
the  great  and  wealthy  in  showing  admiration  for  learning 
and  genius,  in  collecting  books  and  antiquities,  and  in 
encouraging  art  to  produce  triumphs  of  architecture, 
painting,  and  sculpture.  We  go  for  a  moment  beyond  the 
assigned  limits  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  order  to  complete 
this  interesting  subject.  Under  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  the 
grandson  of  Cosmo,  knowledge  and  prosperity  at  Flor- 
ence reached  their  greatest  height.  Lorenzo  ruled  from 
1469  to  1492,  and  was  a  munificent  patron  of  arts  and 
science.  Skilled  in  Greek  and  Latin  literature  and  in  the 
Platonic  philosophy,  he  cultivated  also  with  much  success 
his  own  beautiful  Tuscan,  and  wrote  poetry  with  unusual 
grace  of  style.  To  show  what  Florence  was  in  intellectual 
greatness  during  her  whole  career,  there  can  be  nothing 
more  eloquent  and  convincing  than  a  list  of  her  greatest 
citizens.  In  literature,  the  Tuscan  city  boasts  of  Petrarch, 
Dante,  and  Boccaccio;  in  science,  of  Galileo;  in  maritime 
affairs,  of  Amerigo  Vespucci,  who  was  a  friend  of  Colum- 
bus; an  explorer,  though  not  the  discoverer,  of  America; 
and  the  preparer  of  charts  and  routes  for  voyagers  to  the 
New  World,  which  soon  (with  injustice  to  Columbus  not 
due  to  Vespucci)  received  and  immortalized  his  name. 
In  art,  Florence  has  won  the  highest  renown  through 
Michael  Angelo,  painter,  architect,  and  sculptor;  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci,  an  universal  genius,  at  once  painter,  sculp- 
tor, architect,  civil  and  military  engineer,  scientific  in- 
ventor, accomplished  gentleman,  mathematician,  and 
natural  philosopher;  Andrea  del  Sarto,  the  graceful 


392      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

painter;  and  Benvenuto  Cellini,  sculptor,  engraver,  and 
unrivaled  worker  in  metals,  whose  exquisite  productions 
fetch  immense  prices  at  the  present  day.  After  the  time 
of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  the  political  power  of  the  great 
Italian  Republic  declined;  in  1532  the  ancient  forms  of  the 
free  State  were  abolished,  and  after  being  subject  to  a  suc- 
cession of  tyrants,  Florence  became  merged  in  the  Grand- 
Dukedom  of  Tuscany. 

After  the  contest  between  the  Christians  and 
Mohammedans  in  Spain,  came  the  rise,  between  the 
Ninth  and  Eleventh  Centuries,  of  the  Christian  King- 
doms of  Navarre,  Aragon,  Castile,  Leon,  and  Asturias. 
In  the  Eleventh  Century  Castile  became  the  chief  Span- 
ish State.  In  the  Twelfth  Century  the  Christian  power 
gained  much  on  the  Mohammedan,  and  after  the  defeat 
of  the  Moors  at  Tolosa  in  1212  there  remained  to  the 
infidels  only  the  Kingdoms  of  Cordova  and  Granada. 
The  two  Kingdoms  of  Aragon  and  Castile  were  now  the 
chief  Christian  States  of  Spain;  and  in  the  end  they 
absorbed  all  the  others,  Valencia  being  annexed  by 
Aragon  in  1239.  Aragon  was  the  first  Christian  State 
in  which  the  people  received  due  recognition  in  a  repre- 
sentative assembly.  The  Cortes,  made  up  of  members 
representing  the  nobility,  the  clergy,  and  the  towns, 
exercised  for  a  time  an  effective  control  over  the  sov- 
ereign. In  1412  a  Castilian  Prince  was  elected  King  of 
Aragon  by  the  Cortes,  and  his  descendants  ruled  there 
for  some  time.  Meanwhile,  during  the  Eleventh, 
Twelfth,  Thirteenth,  and  Fourteenth  Centuries,  Castile 
had  waged  successful  war  with  the  Moors,  aided  in  the 
Eleventh  Century  by  the  bravery  of  the  Cid.  In  Castile 
also  (in  the  Thirteenth  Century)  a  free  parliament  or 
Qprtes,  representing  all  classes,  wa.s  established,  ^t 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  NATIONS    593 

last,  in  1471,  the  marriage  of  Isabella,  Queen  of  Castile, 
with  Ferdinand,  Infant  (or  heir  to  the  crown)  of  Aragon, 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  one  compact  Spanish  King- 
dom. The  able  minister,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  worked 
zealously  along  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  bringing 
all  the  States  into  a  political  and  ecclesiastical  unity, 
while  they  strengthened  the  royal  authority  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  clergy,  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  the 
towns.  Order  was  established  throughout  the  land  by 
the  use  of  a  severe  police  and  a  strict  administration  of 
justice,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisition  in 
Spain  in  1481  greatly  aided  the  extension  of  the  power 
of  the  crown.  But  the  Mohammedans  still  had  a  foot- 
hold in  the  land  in  their  sole  remaining  realm  of  Gra- 
nada, and  the  Catholic  Kings,  as  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
were  styled,  could  not  endure  this  reproach.  A  ten 
years'  war  (1481-1491)  ended  in  the  capture  of  the 
beautiful  city  of  Granada,  the  last  stronghold  of  the 
Moslem  in  Western  Europe.  The  Mohammedan  rule 
in  Spain  had  fallen  after  an  existence  of  about  seven 
and  a  half  centuries;  and  Spain  (except  the  Kingdom  of 
Navarre)  was  thus  consolidated  into  one  powerful 
realm,  fit  to  take  a  leading  part  in  European  politics. 

Civilization  and  culture  had  been  attained,  with  im- 
portant results  to  other  parts  of  Europe,  by  the  Jewish 
and  Mohammedan  people  of  Spain.  The  severities  of 
the  Inquisition,  directed  chiefly  against  the  Jews,  had 
not  succeeded  in  "converting"  that  ancient  and  stiff- 
necked  race  to  Christianity.  Accordingly,  in  1492,  a 
royal  edict  was  issued  for  the  expulsion  from  Spain  of 
all  Jews  who  did  not  submit  to  be  baptized.  Nearly  the 
whole  race,  rather  than  sacrifice  their  religion  to-  their 
wgrldly  welfare,  thereupon  left  the  country.  The 


394     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Moors  were  included  in  the  sentence  of  banishment,  and 
with  the  Jews  and  Moors  departed  most  of  the  industry, 
agricultural  skill,  manufacturing  and  commercial  enter- 
prise, genius,  progressive  spirit,  and  learning  of  Spain. 
A  blow  had  been  inflicted  on  the  land  from  which  she 
has  not  recovered  to  the  present  day. 


Feudalism,  or  the  feudal  system,  was  the  most 
strongly  marked  feature  of  society  during  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  was  a  military  institution  with  a  moral  and 
religious  character,  and  it  was  this  combination  which 
gave  it  such  power  over  the  minds  and  imaginations  of 
men.  The  church  made  use  of  this  system  of  warlike 
origin  to  promote  the  growth  of  Christianity  and  civil- 
ization. At  first  very  noble  efforts  to  attain  moral  eleva- 
tion, religious  faith,  and  knightly  courage;  in  fact,  to 
realize  an  ideal  which  would  have  been  noble  and  lofty 
in  any  age.  But  gradually  there  came  a  deterioration, 
until  the  feudal  chiefs  no  longer  formed  an  aristocracy, 
or  rather  a  government  of  Kings,  but  were  isolated 
despots,  each  of  whom  was  a  sovereign  in  his  own 
domains,  doing  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  giving 
no  account  of  his  actions,  and  asking  no  opinion  as  to 
the  nature  of  his  conduct  toward  his  subjects.  Under 
the  popular  hatred  engendered  by  this  abuse  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  with  the  progress  of  enlightenment  and  public 
freedom — in  fact,  when  all  the  good  work  it  could  do 
was  done,  and  only  a  tradition  and  a  form  remained — 
feudalism  came  to  a  natural  and  inevitable  end. 

"The  institution,"  as  Dr.  Freeman,  in  his  "General 
Sketch  of  European  history,"  says,  "arose  out  of  the  mix- 
ture of  Roman  and  Teutonic  ideas.  It  had  been  common 
under  the  Roman  Government  to  grant  lands  on  condi- 
tion of  military  service,"  and  this  was  now  "combined 
with  the  Teutonic  custom  of  men  following  a  chief  as 
their  personal  lord."  Such  chiefs  and  conquerors  as 

395 


396      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Charles  Martel,  in  order  to  reward  their  victorious 
officers,  divided  the  conquered  land  amongst  them,  to 
be  held  on  condition  of  doing  military  service  when 
required.  Most  of  the  land  in  a  Kingdom  came  at  last 
to  be  held  in  this  way,  so  that  the  great  landholders, 
called  feudal  lords,  held  large  territories  from  the  crown, 
which  they  in  turn  divided  out  amongst  followers,  who 
owed  military  service  to  them. 

A  fee,  feud,  or  fief,  meant  a  possession,  of  which  the 
holder  (man  or  vassal,  i.  e.,  attendant,  companion  in 
war)  received  the  right  of  use  and  enjoyment,  on  condi- 
tion of  fidelity — that  is,  of  affording  assistance,  avoiding 
all  injurious  acts,  and  performing  certain  services,  while 
the  feudal  lord  still  retained  a  paramount  right.  As  the 
son  of  a  vassal  commonly  devoted  himself  to  his  father's 
lord,  he  commonly  received  his  father's  fief  on  his 
father's  death,  and  thus,  between  the  Ninth  and  Eleventh 
centuries,  fiefs  became  hereditary.  Whatever  land  was 
possessed  by  a  man  as  his  very  own  was  called  allodial 
(from  all,  and  old  German  od,  property — estate  held  in 
absolute  possession  without  a  feudal  superior),  and,  for 
security's  sake,  many  allodial  owners  gave  up  their  land 
to  powerful  lords  in  order  to  receive  it  back  from  them 
as  feudal,  held  on  the  usual  terms  pertaining  to  the  feu- 
dal system.  The  feudal  lord  is  known  also  by  the  names 
of  suzerain  and  liege,  and  the  vassal  by  those  of  liegeman 
or  retainer.  The  system  was  extended  from  the  laity 
to  the  church,  bishops  and  abbots  holding  fiefs  from  the 
King,  and  letting  out  their  lands  in  turn  to  vassals  of 
their  own.  In  return  for  the  services  in  war  and  civil 
affairs  rendered  by  the  liegeman  to  the  suzerain,  the 
vassal  could  claim,  in  case  of  attack,  protection  from  the 
feudal  lord,  and  this  caused  many  powerful  Princes  to 
hold  their  territories  as  fiefs  of  the  German  Empire, 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  397 

The  several  orders  of  vassals  thus  formed  a  system  of 
concentric  circles,  of  which  each  was  under  the  influence 
of  the  next,  and  all  moved,  in  theory,  around  a  common 
center,  the  King,  as  the  supreme  feudal  lord.  By  the 
Eleventh  Century  the  whole  of  France  and  the  German 
Empire  had  thus  become  one  vast  feudal  possession, 
and  the  system  was  well  suited  to  the  maintenance  of 
right  and  privilege  against  the  power  of  the  crown,  by 
insuring  to  a  brave  and  free  nobility,  when  the  people 
were  poor  and  disunited,  the  support,  in  a  moment  of 
need,  of  a  powerful  military  force.  The  great  mass  of 
the  people,  in  feudal  times,  ultimately  consisted  of  serfs, 
who  were  not  slaves  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  mere  chat- 
tels to  be  sold  man  by  man,  but  were  attached  as  culti- 
vators to  particular  estates,  and  passed  with  the  estate 
into  the  service  of  another  master.  The  actual  slaves 
of  the  Middle  Ages  were  prisoners  of  war  or  men  con- 
demned to  slavery  as  a  punishment  for  crime.  Those 
called  villeins  were  either  freeborn  men  renting  land  or 
serving  for  wages,  or  men  in  the  same  condition  as  the 
serfs. 

One  of  the  mischiefs  of  feudalism  was  that  it  ulti- 
mately caused  the  decay  of  the  national  assemblies  in 
which,  according  to  the  old  German  constitution,  each 
freeman  had  a  right  to  appear.  When  large  countries 
became  organized  as  nations  on  the  feudal  basis,  which 
was  purely  military,  the  people,  trained  to  arms,  trusted 
to  their  weapons  for  the  defense  of  their  rights  rather 
than  to  the  legal  checks  imposed  by  legislative  assem- 
blies, and  the  representative  system  was  allowed  to  fall 
into  disuse.  Then,  when  war  became  first  a  science  and 
then  a  trade,  the  monarchs,  whose  power  had  greatly 
declined  through  the  defiance  and  rebellion  of  feudal 
lords,  became  the  employers  and  possessors  of  standing 


398      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

armies,  and  thus  acquired  absolute  power.  In  England, 
owing  to  its  insular  situation  and  general  abstinence, 
after  the  French  wars  of  the  Plantagenet  Kings,  from 
interference  in  continental  affairs,  standing  armies  had 
been  unnecessary  until  such  time  as  a  powerful  middle 
class  had  arisen  which  had  the  needful  spirit  and  intelli- 
gence to  cope  with  Stuart  tyranny.  Thus  was  England 
narrowly  preserved  from  the  fate  which  befel  the  con- 
tinental nations.  The  great  evil  of  feudalism  was  the 
oppression  exercised  by  the  feudal  barons,  protected  by 
their  castles,  and  acting  as  the  sole  judges  of  right  and 
wrong  between  themselves  and  their  feudal  dependents. 
Appeal  to  the  sovereign  was  in  many  cases  useless,  be- 
cause the  supreme  feudal  lord  did  not  possess  the  power 
of  compelling  obedience  from  a  member  of  a  great  class 
on  which  he  was  himself  dependent  for  the  provision 
and  application  of  military  force. 

The  power  of  feudalism  gave  way  gradually  before 
the  increasing  influence  of  three  institutions — the  mon- 
arch, the  free  towns,  and  the  church.  The  King,  as  the 
head  of  the  State,  became  recognized  by  degrees  as  the 
one  lord  to  whom  obedience  was  due  in  the  common 
interest.  Men  learned  to  prefer  one  tyrant  (if  tyrant  he 
were,  and  all  Kings  are  not  tyrants)  to  many,  and  to 
appeal  to  the  laws  administered  under  the  direction  of 
the  one  master,  the  sovereign,  rather  than  dwell  under 
feudalism,  where  every  castle  might  be  a  center  of 
capricious  violence.  The  feudal  nobles  became  trans- 
formed into  officers  of  State,  whose  duty  it  was  to  exe- 
cute the  decrees  of  the  King  and  the  laws  of  the  realm, 
and  thus  royalty  waxed,  and  feudalism  waned,  dwindled, 
and  died.  The  power  of  the  sovereign  had  come  to  rest 
ultimately  on  the  support  of  the  great  body  of  the 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  399 

nation,  and  popular  Kings  had  centered  in  their  own 
persons  the  powers  of  the  feudal  lords. 

The  towns  also  acquired  importance  and  became 
centers  of  hostility  to  feudalism.  Many  of  these  com- 
munities dated  from  the  Roman  times,  in  which  they 
had  been  free  and  self-governing  municipalities,  and 
with  the  growth  of  intelligence  the  claims  of  the  citizens 
awoke  to  a  new  life  and  began  to  assert  themselves. 
Other  towns  grew  by  degrees  around  the  feudal  castles 
and  acquired  privileges  from  the  lords,  sometimes  ex- 
tending to  charters  which  granted  the  right  of  self-gov- 
ernment by  magistrates  chosen  by  the  community. 
Thus  the  commons,  or  middle  class,  was  developed,  and 
a  powerful  agency  was  brought  into  operation  against 
the  absurdities  of  feudal  superiority. 

The  church,  seeking  to  gain  absolute  rule  in  spiritual 
affairs,  took  part  with  the  Kings,  as  monarchical  power 
grew,  rather  than  with  the  feudal  nobles;  and  as  the 
clergy  themselves  owned  a  large  part  of  the  landed 
property  in  most  European  countries,  and  were  them- 
selves feudal  lords  in  many  instances,  the  cause  of  feudal- 
ism in  general  was  greatly  weakened  by  this  desertion. 
In  addition  to  the  energetic  operation  of  the  above 
causes,  the  extension  of  commerce  creating  wealth  in 
other  forms  than  land,  the  invention  of  gunpowder, 
making  feudal  strongholds  of  no  avail,  and  the  inter- 
necine conflicts  between  feudal  barons  (as  in  the  "Wars 
of  the  Roses,"  which  almost  destroyed  the  old  nobility) 
contributed  largely  to  the  destruction  of  feudalism.  It 
was  killed,  in  short  was  slowly  done  to  death,  by  the 
growth  of  the  civilization  which,  in  its  own  best  days,  it 
had  helped  to  foster  and  to  develop. 


CHIVALRY 

Chivalry  had  its  rise  in  feudalism,  and  was  the  noblest 
product  of  that  institution.  On  this  subject  the  great  his- 
torian Hallam  writes :  "As  the  school  of  moral  discipline, 
the  feudal  institutions  were  perhaps  most  to  be  valued. 
Society  had  sunk  for  several  centuries  after  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Roman  Empire  into  a  condition  of  utter 
depravity,  where,  if  any  vices  could  be  selected  as  more 
eminently  characteristic  than  others,  they  were  falsehood, 
treachery,  and  ingratitude.  In  slowly  purging  off  the  lees 
of  this  extreme  corruption,  the  feudal  spirit  exerted  its 
ameliorating  influence.  Violation  of  faith  stood  first  in 
the  catalogue  of  crimes,  most  repugnant  to  the  very 
essence  of  feudal  tenure,  most  severely  and  promptly 
avenged,  most  branded  by  general  infamy.  The  feudal 
law-books  breathe  throughout  a  spirit  of  honorable  obliga- 
tion. ...  In  the  reciprocal  services  of  lord  and  vassal 
there  was  ample  scope  for  magnanimous  and  disinterested 
energy.  The  heart  of  man,  when  placed  in  circumstances 
which  have  a  tendency  to  excite  them,  will  seldom  be  defi- 
cient in  such  sentiments.  No  occasions  could  be  more 
favorable  than  the  protection  of  a  faithful  supporter,  or 
the  defense  of  a  beneficent  suzerain,  against  such  powerful 
aggression  as  left  little  prospect  except  of  sharing  in  his 
ruin.  From  these  feelings,  engendered  by  the  feudal  rela- 
tion, has  sprung  up  the  peculiar  sentiment  of  personal  rev- 
erence and  attachment  toward  a  sovereign  which  we  call 
loyalty,  alike  distinguishable  from  the  stupid  devotion  of 
Eastern  slaves  and  from  the  abstract  respect  with  which 
free  citizens  regard  their  chief  magistrate.  ...  In  a 

400 


CHIVALRY  401 

moral  view,  loyalty  has  scarcely  perhaps  less  tendency  to 
refine  and  elevate  the  heart  than  patriotism  itself."  Such 
fa  one  view  of  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  so  far  as  it  concerned 
the  maintenance  of  the  peace  and  order  of  the  social  sys- 
tem. 

But  there  is  much  more  than  this  involved.  The  feudal 
system  arose  among  the  Franks,  a  German  people,  and 
the  Teutonic  race  was  always  distinguished  by  its  war- 
like character,  and  by  the  great  respect  shown  toward 
womankind.  Hence  we  have  some  of  the  chief  marks 
of  the  age  of  chivalry — devotion  to  exploits  of  arms  and 
honor  paid  to  the  gentler  sex.  Taking  a  wider  and  a  deeper 
view,  the  same  eminent  writer  observes  that  "there  are 
three  powerful  spirits  which  have  from  time  to  time  moved 
over  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  given  a  predominant 
impulse  to  the  moral  sentiments  and  energies  of  man- 
kind. These  are  the  spirits  of  liberty,  of  religion,  and 
of  honor.  It  was  the  principal  business  of  chivalry  to  ani- 
mate and  cherish  the  last  of  these  three. 

One  of  the  feudal  princes  enjoined  his  knights  to 
honor,  above  all,  the  women,  and  not  to  permit  any  one 
to  slander  them,  because  from  them  after  God  comes  all 
the  honor  that  men  can  acquire.  It  is  from  the  close  union 
of  bravery  in  knights  with  this  devotion  to  the  fair  sex 
that  the  same  word — gallantry — has  been  used  to  express 
both  qualities.  Like  other  good  things,  this  was  carried 
to  what  appears  a  ridiculous  extreme,  when  we  find  the 
warriors  on  each  side  in  serious  conflict,  bearing  over  their 
armor  scarves  and  devices,  as  the  livery  of  their  mistresses, 
and  asserting  the  paramount  beauty  of  her  whom  they 
served,  in  vaunting  challenges  toward  the  enemy. 

In  the  code  of  morals  prevalent  during  the  best  part 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  three  virtues  were  held  by  mankind 
to  be  essential  to  the  character  of  a  knight — loyalty,  cour- 

Voi,.  i  —  26 


ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY 

tesy,  and  munificence.  The  first  of  these — loyalty — may 
be  defined,  in  its  original  sense,  as  fidelity  to  engagements, 
whether  actual  promises,  or  such  tacit  obligations  as  bound 
a  vassal  to  his  lord,  and  a  subject  to  his  prince.  It  was 
applied  also,  and  in  the  utmost  strictness,  to  the  fidelity 
of  a  lover  toward  the  lady  whom  he  served.  Breach  of 
faith,  and  especially  of  an  express  promise,  was  held  to 
be  a  disgrace  that  no  valor  could  redeem.  "False,"  "per- 
jured," "disloyal,"  "recreant,"  were  the  epithets  which 
he  must  be  compelled  to  endure  who  had  swerved  from 
a  plighted  engagement,  even  toward  an  enemy.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  changes  produced  by  chivalry. 
Treachery,  the  usual  vice  of  savage  as  well  as  of  corrupt 
nations,  became  infamous  during  the  rigor  of  that  dis- 
cipline. As  personal  rather  than  national  feelings  actuated 
its  heroes,  they  never  felt  that  hatred,  much  less  that  fear, 
of  their  enemies  which  blind  men  to  the  heinousness  of 
ill  faith.  In  the  wars  of  Edward  III  of  England  with 
France,  wars  originating  in  no  real  animosity,  the  spirit 
of  honorable  as  well  as  courteous  behavior  toward  the 
foe  seems  to  have  arrived  at  its  highest  point.  Though 
avarice  may  have  been  the  primary  motive  of  ransoming 
prisoners  instead  of  putting  them  to  death,  their  permis- 
sion to  return  home  on  the  word  of  honor  in  order  to  pro- 
cure the  stipulated  sum — an  indulgence  never  refused — 
could  only  be  founded  on  experienced  confidence  in  the 
principles  of  chivalry.  A  knight,  then,  was  held  to  be 
unfit  to  remain  a  member  of  the  order  if  he  violated  his 
faith.  He  was  ill  acquainted  with  its  duties  if  he  proved 
wanting  in  courtesy.  The  word  courtesy  expressed  the 
most  highly  refined  good  breeding,  founded  less  upon  a 
knowledge  of  ceremonious  politeness,  though  this  was  not 
to  be  omitted,  than  on  the  spontaneous  modesty,  self- 
denial,  and  respect  for  others  which  ought  to  spring  from 


CHIVALRY  403 

the  heart.  Besides  the  grace  which  this  beautiful  virtue 
threw  over  the  habits  of  social  life,  it  softened  down  the 
natural  roughness  of  war,  and  gradually  introduced  that 
indulgent  treatment  of  prisoners  which  was  almost 
unknown  to  antiquity. 

As  to  munificence,  all  the  romances  of  chivalry  incul- 
cate the  duty  of  a  knight's  scattering  his  wealth  with  pro- 
fusion, especially  toward  minstrels,  pilgrims,  and  the 
poorer  members  of  his  own  order.  The  last,  who  were 
pretty  numerous,  had  a  constant  right  to  succor  from  the 
opulent;  the  castle  of  every  lord  who  respected  the  ties 
of  knighthood  was  open  with  more  than  usual  hospitality 
to  the  traveler  whose  armor  announced  his  dignity,  though 
it  might  also  conceal  his  poverty.  Valor,  loyalty,  cour- 
tesy, munificence,  formed  collectively  the  character  of  an 
accomplished  knight.  Yet  something  more  was  required 
for  the  perfect  idea  of  chivalry,  and  was  enjoined  by  its 
principles:  an  active  sense  of  justice,  an  ardent  indigna- 
tion of  wrong,  a  determination  of  courage  to  its  best  end, 
the  prevention  or  redress  of  injury.  It  grew  up  as  a  salu- 
tary antidote  in  the  midst  of  poisons,  while  scarce  any 
law  but  that  of  the  strongest  obtained  regard,  and  the 
rights  of  territorial  property,  which  are  only  right  as  they 
conduce  to  general  good,  became  the  means  of  general 
oppression. 

Chevalry  means  properly  the  usages  and  qualifications 
of  chevaliers  or  knights,  and  in  the  reign  of  Charlemagne 
we  find  a  military  distinction  that  appears,  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name,  to  have  given  birth  to  the  institution.  Certain 
feudal  tenants  were  bound  to  serve  on  horseback,  equipped 
with  the  coat  of  mail.  These  persons  were  called  Caballa- 
rii  (horse-riders,  from  Latin,  caballus,  a  riding-horse), 
whence  the  word  Chevalier,  a  mounted  warrior,  and  then 
a  knight.  The  truth  is  that,  in  the  warfare  of  the  Middle 


404      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Ages,  the  strength  of  armies  lay  in  the  cavalry  (another 
form  of  the  word  chivalry),  and  the  service  of  the  infan- 
try was  assigned  to  the  plebeians;  the  landed  gentry,  or 
feudal  tenants  of  a  certain  rank,  alone  could  aspire  to  the 
name  of  "miles,"  soldier,  or  were  "knights"  in  the  tech- 
nical sense.  The  dukes  and  counts,  who  had  usurped  the 
rights  of  sovereignty,  divided  the  provinces  among  their 
faithful  barons.  The  barons  distributed  among  their  vas- 
sals the  fiefs  or  benefices  of  their  jurisdiction,  and  these 
military  tenants,  the  peers  of  each  other  and  of  their  lord, 
composed  the  noble  or  knightly  order,  which  disdained 
to  conceive  the  peasant  or  burgher  as  of  the  same  species 
with  themselves.  The  dignity  of  their  birth  was  pre- 
served by  pure  and  equal  alliances;  their  sons  alone,  who 
could  produce  four  quarters  or  lines  of  ancestry,  without 
spot  or  reproach,  might  legally  pretend  to  the  honor  of 
knighthood;  though  a  valiant  plebeian  was  sometimes 
enriched  and  ennobled  by  the  sword,  and  became  the 
father  of  a  new  race.  This  technical,  legal,  landed  order 
of  knighthood  was  succeeded,  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades, 
by  the  personal  chivalry,  the  order  of  personal  nobility. 
Knighthood,  to  be  won  by  merit  alone,  not  claimed  as  a 
legal  right,  became  the  chief  object  of  ambition  with  a 
noble's  younger  sons,  who  could  derive  little  or  no  income 
from  the  paternal  estate.  This  knighthood  raised  such 
men  in  the  scale  of  society,  making  them  equal  in  dress, 
in  arms,  and  in  title  to  the  rich  landholders,  and,  being  due 
only  to  merit,  making  them  much  more  than  equal  to  those 
who  had  no  pretensions  but  from  wealth,  so  that  a  terri- 
torial knight  became  at  last  ashamed  to  assume  the  title 
until  he  could  challenge  it  by  real  merit.  Thus  arose  the 
class  of  noble  and  gallant  cavaliers,  serving  indeed  for 
pay,  but  on  the  most  honorable  footing.  In  the  warfare 


CHIVALRY  405 

of  the  Crusades,  as  no  man  could  be  called  on  to  undertake 
feudal  service  for  the  needful  length  of  time,  the  richer 
barons  took  into  their  pay  as  many  knights  as  they  could 
afford  to  maintain.  In  this  way  the  original  connection 
of  knighthood  with  feudal  tenure  became  forgotten  in  the 
splendor  and  dignity  of  its  new  form.  Each  knight,  in 
his  turn,  was  attended  to  the  field  by  his  faithful  squire, 
a  youth  of  equal  birth  and  similar  hopes  of  plunder,  pro- 
motion, and  renown.  He  was  followed  also  by  his  archers 
and  men-at-arms,  from  four  to  six  soldiers  being  regarded 
as  the  retinue  or  following  of  a  complete  lance. 

The  warlike  character  of  chivalry  had  a  bad  influence 
in  causing  the  illiterate  knight  to  disdain  the  arts  of  indus- 
try and  peace,  to  esteem  himself  the  sole  judge  and 
avenger  of  his  own  injuries,  and  to  neglect,  in  his  pride, 
the  laws  of  civil  society  and  of  military  discipline.  It  is 
certain,  too,  that  the  morals  of  chivalry,  in  spite  of  the 
religious  side  of  its  character,  were  far  from  pure.  The 
literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  which  chivalry  speaks 
for  itself,  shows  a  licentious  spirit  which  only  reflects  the 
facts  of  the  life  of  the  times.  Brave  knights  and  fair 
ladies  acted,  in  far  too  many  instances,  in  accordance  with 
a  code  of  morals  very  different  from  that  of  the  Christian- 
ity which  they  professed  to  believe  and  to  defend.  Another 
evil  was  that  knighthood,  as  an  institution,  widened  the 
interval  between  the  different  classes  of  society,  and  con- 
firmed that  aristocratical  spirit  of  high  birth  by  which  the 
large  mass  of  mankind  were  kept  in  unjust  degradation. 
At  the  siege  of  Calais,  for  example,  Edward  III,  as  a  true 
knight,  treated  his  knightly  foes  with  generous  considera- 
tion, but  displayed  a  harshness  toward  the  citizens  which 
puts  his  character,  apart  from  chivalry,  in  a  much  less 
favorable  light. 


406      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

It  is  a  grotesque  fact  that  chivalry,  along  with  the 
feudalism  with  which  it  was  so  closely  connected,  owed 
its  final  overthrow  to  a  practical  application  of  chemistry 
— the  use  of  gunpowder  in  war.  Lances  and  armor  could 
do  nothing  against  guns;  personal  strength  was  of  no 
avail  against  bullets;  infantry  became,  as  a  military  body, 
the  superiors  of  cavalry;  tactics  changed;  the  honors  of 
chivalry  became  disconnected  from  a  display  of  prowess 
in  war;  the  progress  of  reason  and  of  literature  brought 
ignorance  into  discredit,  and  "the  ridicule  which  kills" 
gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  that  which,  in  its  day,  had  been 
so  picturesque  and  glorious,  but  had  degenerated  into  a 
fantastic  and  useless  absurdity.  The  spirit  of  chivalry  left 
behind  it  a  more  valuable  successor.  The  character  of 
knight  gradually  subsided  in  that  of  gentleman,  and  the 
one  has  distinguished  society  in  modern  times  as  much 
as  the  other  did  that  of  the  Middle  Ages.  A  jealous  sense 
of  honor,  less  romantic,  but  equally  elevated,  a  ceremoni- 
ous gallantry  and  politeness,  a  high  pride  of  birth, 
a  sympathy  for  martial  honor,  though  more  subdued  by 
the  habits  of  civil  life — these  were  the  features  of 
character  which,  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Cen- 
turies, proved  an  indisputable  descent.  The  cavaliers  of 
Charles  I  were  genuine  successors  of  Edward  Ill's 
knights.  Time  has  effaced  much  also  of  this  gentlemanly, 
as  it  did  before  of  the  chivalrous,  character.  Since  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  its  vigor  and  purity 
have  undergone  a  silent  decay,  and  yielded  to  increasing 
commercial  wealth,  to  more  diffused  instruction,  to  the 
spirit  of  general  liberty  in  some,  and  of  servile  obsequi- 
ousness in  others,  to  the  modes  of  life  in  great  cities,  and 
to  the  leveling  customs  of  social  life.  Modern  society 
owes  much  of  the  honor,  generosity,  courtesy,  and  kind- 


CHIVALRY  407 

ness  which  are  blended  in  the  character  of  a  perfect  gen- 
tleman, to  that  exalted  institution  of  past  ages  whose 
soul  is  a  living  presence  in  our  midst,  though  the  frame- 
work and  the  system,  like  the  bodies  of  the  gallant  knights 
whose  tombs  remain  in  many  a  crypt  and  shrine,  have  long 
decayed. 


CIVILIZATION    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES 

The  "Middle  Ages"  comprise  a  period  of  about  a 
thousand  years,  from  the  close  of  the  Fifth  to  the  close 
of  the  Fifteenth  Century.  Of  this  long  period  the  first  six 
centuries,  from  the  end  of  the  Fifth  to  the  end  of  the  Elev- 
enth Century,  are  usually  called  the  "Dark  Ages,"  from  the 
general  lack  of  knowledge  and  culture  by  which  they  are 
marked  in  the  history  of  mankind  in  Europe  since  the  rise 
of  civilization.  Before  the  territory  of  the  Roman  Empire 
became  almost  wholly  occupied  by  the  barbarian  tribes,  a 
general  indifference  to  education  and  literature  had  spread 
amongst  the  inhabitants  of  the  Roman  world.  A  lethargy 
existed  as  to  the  acquirement  of  learning,  the  existence 
of  which  was  both  proved  and  uselessly  combated  in  the 
laws  enacted  by  Constantine,  Julian,  Theodosius,  and 
other  Emperors  for  the  encouragement  of  learned  men  and 
the  promotion  of  liberal  education.  When  such  enact- 
ments as  these  are  required  in  a  society  which  has  once 
been  highly  cultivated,  the  degradation  of  man's  intellect 
has  already  reached  a  low  point,  and  is  sure  to  go  lower 
still.  There  was  even  a  danger  lest  the  light  of  learning 
should  be  quite  extinguished  by  the  destruction  or  decay 
of  the  books  existing  then  only  in  manuscript,  and  repro- 
duced at  greater  cost  and  trouble  than  in  times  when  the 
general  love  of  literature  had  caused  the  employment  of 
bodies  of  rapid  and  skillful  transcribers.  One  cause  of  the 
decay  of  learning  was  the  general  neglect  of  the  pagan 
literature,  containing  the  highest  models  of  literary  art, 
by  the  Christian  church.  Some  of  the  early  fathers  of 
the  Church  were,  indeed,  men  of  considerable  acquire- 

408 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES  409 

rnents  in  these  matters,  but  there  was  a  general  aversion 
felt  among  Christians  for  heathen  letters,  and  a  general 
contempt  for  physical  science,  which  was  held  to  be 
opposed  to  revealed  truth.  In  its  earliest  stage,  more- 
over, the  system  of  monasticism,  founded  upon  the  ascetic 
enthusiasm  of  austere  recluses,  was  hostile  to  literary  cul- 
ture. The  temporary  ruin  of  civilization  on  this  literary 
side  was  completed  in  the  occupation  of  Gaul,  Italy,  and 
Spain  by  the  untutored  barbarians  of  the  Teutonic  world. 
They  knew  nothing  of  learning  themselves,  and  they  soon 
reduced  nearly  all  around  them  to  the  same  level.  These 
intelligent  tribes  of  the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the 
continent  could  not  fail  to  observe  that  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion had  not  preserved  the  Roman  Empire  from  corrup- 
tion in  morals  or  conquest  in  arms,  and  they  despised  all 
attainments  which  appeared  to  be  incompatible  with  suc- 
cess in  war. 

The  main  cause  of  the  almost  total  extinction  of  learn- 
ing was  the  change  that  took  place  in  the  speech  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Spain.  The  original  lan- 
guage of  Gaul  and  Spain  was  mainly  Celtic,  resembling 
the  tongues  still  commonly  spoken  in  Wales  and  Brittany, 
and  not  wholly  extinct  in  Ireland  and  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland.  In  Gaul  and  Spain  the  native  speech  was,  by 
degrees,  first  completely  superseded  by  the  Latin,  and 
then,  as  well  as  in  Italy  itself,  corrupted  in  pronunciation 
into  a  broken  Latin  called  Roman,  from  which  the  Italian, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  languages  were  gradu- 
ally developed — the  Romance  languages  of  Europe.  The 
classical  Latin  still  continued,  with  gradual  changes  in 
purity  of  expression  and  idiom,  to  be  the  written  language 
of  such  few  scholars  as  were  to  be  found  amidst  almost 
universal  ignorance.  Since  written  language  is  the 
standard  by  which  the  ordinary  speech  of  civilized  persons 


410      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

is  rectified,  it  follows  that  ignorance  of  books  will  lead 
to  an  evergrowing  change  in  speech,  and  thus,  as  well  as 
through  an  influx  of  foreign  words  from  the  Teutonic  dia- 
lects of  the  barbarians,  the  Latin  language  ceased  to  be  a 
living  tongue,  and  education  in  the  only  language  which, 
for  Western  Europe,  could  be  said  to  have  a  literature, 
became  an  impossibility  for  the  mass  of  the  people. 

All  books  were  in  Latin,  which  the  people  could  not 
read,  and  in  their  language  of  everyday  life  there  were  no 
books.  The  Latin  language  continued  to  be  taught  only  in 
the  few  schools  which,  in  the  course  of  the  Eighth  and 
Ninth  Centuries,  became  attached  to  monasteries  and 
churches,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  were  wholly  unlet- 
tered. Few  laymen  of  any  rank  could  read  or  write :  learn- 
ing, such  as  it  was,  was  confined  to  the  clergy,  and  they 
had  little.  France  seems  to  have  reached  the  worst  point 
of  darkness  by  the  beginning  of  the  Eighth  Century,  and 
England  at  the  middle  of  the  Ninth.  Italy  was  in  a 
degraded  condition  as  to  learning  during  the  Tenth  Cen- 
tury; in  France,  after  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  slow  but 
steady  progress  was  made,  and  Alfred  the  Great  did  much 
for  the  revival  of  letters  in  England.  The  state  of  ignor- 
ance in  England  during  the  Dark  Ages  is  proved  by 
Alfred's  own  declaration  that  he  did  not  know  a  single 
priest  South  of  the  Thames  (the  most  civilized  part  of 
the  island)  at  the  time  of  his  accession,  who  understood 
the  ordinary  prayers  of  the  church  service,  or  could  trans- 
late Latin  into  the  English  of  his  day.  A  great  cause, 
also,  of  this  general  ignorance  was  the  scarcity  of  books, 
according  to  Hallam  in  his  Middle  Ages.  From  the  con- 
quest of  Alexandria  by  the  Saracens,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Seventh  Century,  when  the  Egyptian  papyrus  almost 
ceased  to  be  imported  into  Europe,  to  the  close  of  the  Tenth 
Century,  about  which  time  the  art  of  making  paper  from 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES  411 

cotton  rags  seems  to  have  been  introduced,  there  were 
no  materials  for  writing  except  parchment,  a  substance 
too  expensive  to  be  readily  spared  for  mere  purposes  of 
literature.  Hence  an  unfortunate  practice  gained  ground 
of  erasing  a  manuscript  in  order  to  substitute  another  on 
the  same  skin.  This  occasioned  the  loss  of  many  ancient 
authors,  who  have  made  way  for  the  legends  of  saints  or 
other  ecclesiastical  matter.  Few  men  of  eminent  ability  or 
attainments  appeared  during  these  Dark  Ages,  from  the 
Sixth  to  the  Middle  of  the  Eleventh  Century.  Beda,  or 
Bede  (known  as  the  "Venerable  Bede")  was  born  near 
Wearmouth,  in  Durham,  about  A.  D.  672,  and  lived  till 
735.  He  wrote  a  history  of  the  English  Church — his 
Ecclesiastical  History — virtually  a  history  of  England 
down  to  the  date  of  its  completion  in  731.  This  was 
written  in  Latin,  and  he  also  completed  a  translation,  from 
Latin  into  English,  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Alcuin, 
another  famous  Englishman,  lived  from  about  735  to  804, 
and  was  educated  in  the  celebrated  school  attached  to  the 
York  monastery,  where  he  became  afterward  the  school- 
master and  librarian.  He  aided  Charles  the  Great  in 
spreading  literary  culture  in  his  Empire,  acting  as  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  as  Professor  Morley,  in 
his  First  Sketch  of  English  History,  styles  him.  Alcuin 
was  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  time,  and  was  energetic  in 
causing  the  multiplication  of  good  books  in  the  scrip- 
torium or  writing-room  of  his  monastery.  His  writings 
include  letters,  inscriptions,  epigrams,  and  poems.  John 
Scotus,  or  Erigena,  was  a  Celt  who  flourished  about  the 
middle  of  the  Ninth  Century.  He  had  a  knowledge  of 
Greek — a  rare  accomplishment  in  Western  Europe  at  that 
time — and  wrote  in  Latin  a  philosophical  work  called  De 
Divisione  Naturae  ("On  the  Division  of  Nature"),  in 
which  he  maintained  the  doctrines  of  a  perfect  harmony 


412      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

between  reason  and  revelation,  and  of  the  non-eternity  of 
evil.  He  was  a  great  student  of  Plato,  and  endowed  with 
a  lively  fancy  and  a  bold  spirit  of  speculation.  Gerbert 
(Sylvester  II,  Pope  from  A.  D.  999  to  1003)  was  a  great 
promoter  of  learning,  and  a  man  of  scientific  attainments, 
which  procured  for  him,  in  that  dull  age,  a  reputation  for 
magic.  He  wrote  on  arithmetic  and  geometry,  and  con- 
structed with  his  own  hands  a  clock,  a  globe,  and  an  astro- 
labe, the  instrument  now  superseded  by  the  sextant,  and 
used  for  measuring  angles  of  altitude  in  observation  of 
the  heavenly  bodies. 

The  mental  state  of  these  Dark  Ages  is  well  exhibited 
in  the  superstitious  beliefs  which  prevailed.  In  the  Tenth 
Century  it  was  believed  that  the  world  was  to  come  to  an 
end  with  the  year  A.  D.  1000.  The  judgment  of  Heaven 
was  appealed  to  in  ordeals  and  judicial  combats.  Impos- 
tors or  fanatics  raved  about  Europe,  declaring  themselves 
to  be  divine  prophets,  and  drew  many  after  them  into 
riotous  folly.  So-called  miracles  abounded,  and  had  mul- 
titudes of  believers.  The  Dark  Ages  were  times  when 
religion  was  degraded,  morals  were  loose,  and  lawlessness 
was  rife.  Judicial  perjury  was  one  of  the  commonest  of 
crimes.  An  excessive  passion  for  field-sports  caused  much 
oppression  of  the  peasantry  by  the  nobles,  and  a  generally 
backward  state  of  agriculture,  since  the  leveling  of  for- 
ests, the  draining  of  morasses,  and  the  extirpation  of  mis- 
chievous animals  were  forbidden  by  the  landed  aris- 
tocracy, who  wanted  game-preserves  for  their  pleasure 
instead  of  corn-fields  for  their  true  and  lasting  profit.  For 
five  or  six  centuries  the  finest  regions  of  Europe  were 
unfruitful  and  desolate.  There  is  no  trace  of  any  manu- 
facture beyond  what  was  needed  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  immediate  neighborhood.  In  the  Ninth  Century  even 
Kings  had  their  clothes  made  by  the  women  upon  their 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          413 

farms.  Extended  traffic  there  could  be  none,  amidst  the 
general  ignorance  of  mutual  wants,  the  peril  of  robbery  in 
conveying  merchandise,  and  the  certainty  of  extortion.  In 
the  domains  of  every  feudal  lord  a  toll  was  to  be  paid  in 
passing  his  bridge,  or  along  his  highway,  or  at  his  market. 
Thus  enterprise  was  stifled  in  the  birth,  and  trade  perished 
in  the  making.  The  worst  of  the  feudal  masters  of  the 
European  world  were  not  satisfied  with  the  robberies  of 
fiscal  extortion,  but  came  down  openly  from  their  castles 
to  plunder  wealthy  travelers,  or  shared  the  gains  of  the 
highway  robbers  whom  they  protected  in  their  infamous 
misdeeds.  Travelers  were  seized  and  sold  as  slaves,  or 
held  to  ransom,  and  the  Venetians  purchased  the  luxuries 
of  Asia  by  supplying  the  markets  of  the  Saracens  with 
slaves.  The  subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West 
thus  led  from  ignorance  to  superstition,  from  superstition 
to  lawlessness  and  vice,  and  thence  to  general  rudeness 
and  poverty. 

But  the  Dark  Ages  were  not  wholly  dark.  Though 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  were  chained  to  the 
soil,  without  freedom,  property,  or  knowledge,  and  the 
nobles  and  clergy  alone  deserved  the  name  of  citizens  and 
men,  yet  mitigations  of  no  mean  account  existed,  and 
soothed  the  miseries  of  the  poor  and  helpless.  It  was  the 
Christian  church  that  did  this  work,  as  well  as  kept  alive 
in  some  degree  the  ancient  learning.  In  Hallam's  phrase, 
religion  made  a  bridge  across  the  chaos,  and  linked  the 
periods  of  ancient  and  of  modern  culture.  Three  portions 
of  the  religious  system  then  prevailing  were  concerned  in 
this  beneficial  result.  These  were  the  papal  supremacy, 
the  monastic  institutions,  and  the  use  of  a  Latin  liturgy. 
It  was  these  that  preserved  the  Latin  language,  on  which 
hung  the  sole  hope  of  a  revival  of  letters.  The  papal 
supremacy  kept  up  a  constant  intercourse  between  Rome 


4H      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

and  the  several  nations  of  Europe.  Her  laws  were 
received  by  the  bishops,  her  legates  presided  in  councils, 
and  a  common  language  was  preserved,  in  Latin,  as  an 
absolute  necessity  of  the  situation.  The  monastic  institu- 
tions kept  learning  alive.  The  parochial  clergy  had  no 
literature,  and  almost  every  distinguished  man  belonged 
either  to  a  cathedral-chapter  or  to  a  monastery.  There 
opportunities  for  study  existed,  and  there  books  were  kept 
in  safety.  Without  the  libraries  of  the  monks  we  should 
hardly  have  had  manuscripts  at  all.  The  Latin  liturgy 
preserved  in  tolerable  purity  that  tongue  which  had  ceased 
to  be  intelligible  to  the  mass  of  mankind,  and  in  the  Bible 
called  the  Vulgate  a  still  more  venerable  treasure  existed. 
The  Latin  which  kept  knowledge  from  the  people  in  the 
Dark  Ages,  preserved  knowledge  for  the  people  in  the 
dawn  of  a  destined  revival  of  learning. 

The  first  religious  order  founded  in  Western  Europe 
was  that  of  the  Benedictines.  St.  Benedict,  an  Italian 
of  the  province  of  Umbria,  introduced  a  rule  of  life  into 
his  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino,  near  Naples,  in  A.  D. 
529.  This  system  became  gradually  the  rule  of  all  the 
Western  monks,  and  it  included  the  instruction  of  youth 
in  reading,  writing,  ciphering,  Christian  doctrine,  and 
the  mechanical  arts.  Benedict  started  a  library,  for 
which  the  aged  and  infirm  brethren  were  obliged  to 
copy  manuscripts,  and  was  thus  one  of  the  first  who, 
in  the  church  of  Christendom,  helped  to  preserve  the 
literary  remains  of  antiquity.  From  the  Sixth  to  the 
Tenth  Century  almost  all  the  monks  in  the  West  might 
be  called  Benedictines,  as  following  St.  Benedict's  rules, 
which  were  enforced  in  the  monasteries  of  Spain  and  of 
France,  and  by  the  Irish  monk  St.  Columba.  A  branch 
of  the  Benedictines,  called  the  Cluniacs  (from  the  Con- 
vent of  Clugny,  in  Burgundy),  possessed  2,000  monas- 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          415, 

teries  in  the  Twelfth  Century.  In  naming  some  of  these 
orders  we  shall  go  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Daik  Ages, 
but  for  the  sake  of  convenience  bring  them  together 
here.  The  Cistercians  arose  in  a  convent  near  Dijon  in 
1098,  and  became  a  rich  order,  spread  throughout 
Europe  with  many  hundreds  of  abbeys.  The  Francis- 
cans were  founded  by  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  (in  Italy)  in 
1210,  and  are  known  as  the  Gray  Friars  (or  Brothers) 
from  the  color  of  their  robe.  The  rule  of  this  order  was 
a  life  of  poverty,  devoted  to  begging  and  preaching. 
Afterward,  the  Franciscan  monasteries  were  allowed  to 
hold  property,  and  the  order  became  very  powerful, 
including  members  who  were  the  confessors  of  Princes 
and  virtual  rulers  of  the  Christian  world,  and  several 
who  rose  to  be  Popes.  To  this  order  belonged  the 
scholars  Bonaventura,  Duns  Scotus,  and  Roger  Bacon. 
The  Dominicans  were  founded  by  St.  Dominic  in  A.  D. 
1215,  at  Toulouse,  in  the  south  of  France.  The  object 
of  their  institution  was  to  preach  against  heretics.  They 
became  a  very  powerful  order,  and  spread  over  Europe 
and  into  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  The  scholars 
Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas  Aquinas  belonged  to  the 
Dominicans.  They  were  the  exclusive  managers  in 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy,  of  the  terrible  Inquisition, 
and  became  great  rivals  of  the  Franciscans  in  political 
and  theological  matters.  The  controversialists  on  the 
side  of  the  Dominicans  were  known  as  Thomists,  from 
Thomas  Aquinas,  and  of  the  Franciscans  as  Scotists. 
from  Duns  Scotus. 

The  monks  in  the  Dark  Ages  kept  alive  the  vir- 
tues of  meekness,  self-denial,  and  charity  at  a  time  when 
the  laity  were  little  given,  indeed,  to  their  practice.  The 
relief  of  the  poor  is  the  outcome  of  a  spirit  distinguish- 
ing both  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism  from  the 


416 

pagan  systems  of  Greece  and  Rome,  which  had  little 
of  general  humanity  and  sympathy  with  suffering,  and 
can  boast  of  no  public  institution  for  the  alleviation  of 
human  miseries.  At  the  monastery  gate  those  were  fed 
who  must  otherwise  have  starved;  by  the  monkish  doc- 
tor the  sick  were  tended  who  must  otherwise  have  per- 
ished of  disease.  Much  was  also  done  for  agriculture  in 
the  reclaiming  of  waste  lands  and  in  improved  methods 
of  tillage.  Nor  did  the  Christian  church  fail  to  fulfill  a 
higher  office  still  in  the  shelter  which  she  afforded  to  the 
fugitive,  and  the  stand  which  she  made  against  the 
oppressor.  By  an  established  law,  founded  on  very 
ancient  superstition,  the  precincts  of  a  church  afforded 
sanctuary  (a  sacred  asylum  or  refuge)  to  accused  per- 
sons. With  a  due  administration  of  justice,  this  would 
be  simply  giving  immunity  and  license  to  crime;  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  right  of  sanctuary  was  often  a  protec- 
tion to  innocence. 

Between  the  Eleventh  and  Fifteenth  Centuries  we  have 
a  time  of  revival  and  of  recovery  from  the  state  of  degra- 
dation and  poverty  in  Europe.  The  darkness  grows 
fainter,  the  twilight  comes,  the  sky  reddens,  at  last  the 
sun  bursts  forth  amidst  the  lingering  mists  of  prejudice 
and  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  rise  and  growth 
of  important  towns  are  at  once  the  signs  of  reviving  civ- 
ilization at  this  period  of  European  history,  and  the  act- 
ive causes  of  continued  progress.  With  the  advent  of 
the  Teutonic  nations  the  Roman  towns  had  decayed, 
because  the  new  inhabitants  of  the  old  Roman  world 
were  not  fond  of  the  restraints  of  existence  within  walled 
inclosures.  As  civilization  was  developed  in  new  forms 
the  old  towns  recovered  some  of  their  former  impor- 
tance, and  new  towns  everywhere  arose.  Many  were 
founded  in  Germany  by  the  Emperors  of  the  Saxon 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES         417 

dynasty,  and  the  growth  of  commerce  was  a  powerful 
agent  in  the  creation  and  development  of  new  centers  ot 
population  and  wealth.  Some  of  these  new  or  revised 
cities  became  powerful  and  independent  commonwealths 
playing  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Towns  were  in  many  cases  the  result  of  a  reaction 
and  protest  against  feudal  violence.  As  vassals  gath- 
ered for  protection  around  the  castles  of  feudal  lords  and 
around  monasteries  and  churches,  towns  had  their  be- 
ginnings in  hamlets.  The  inhabitants  then  became  bur- 
ghers, dependent  on  the  lords  of  the  castles  or  on  the 
monastic  bodies.  Unions  and  confederations  also  arose 
among  those  who  were  connected  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil  in  particular  districts.  They  agreed  to  render 
to  each  other  such  aid  and  service  as  they  had  been 
obliged  to  render  to  their  feudal  lord.  The  first  thing 
was  to  erect  a  tower  with  a  bell,  to  be  rung  as  a  signal  to 
meet  for  defence,  and  so  a  kind  of  rude  militia  was 
formed.  Then  a  municipal  government  was  instituted, 
with  magistrates,  a  common  treasury,  and  the  imposi- 
tion of  taxes  and  tolls.  Thus  grew  the  reviving  sense  of 
freedom.  Then  trenches  were  dug  and  walls  were  built 
for  defence,  and,  along  with  security,  handicrafts  found 
a  home.  Artisans  rose  to  a  higher  position  than  that  of 
tillers  of  the  ground,  who  were  forcibly  driven  to  work; 
the  artisan,  moreover,  had  a  skill  and  an  activity 
of  his  own.  At  first  artisans  required  leave  from 
the  Liege  Lord  to  sell  their  work,  and  earn  some- 
thing for  themselves;  for  this  privilege  of  selling 
their  wares  they  paid  a  certain  sum,  besides  giv- 
ing a  part  of  their  gains  to  the  baronial  exchequer. 
In  the  early  days  of  the  new  towns  the  nobility 
imposed  rents  for  houses,  and  tolls  on  imports  and 
exports,  and  exacted  money  for  safe-conduct  from 
Vox,,  i  —  27 


418      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

travelers.  As  the  rising  communities  grew  in  wealth 
and  strength,  all  these  feudal  rights  were  bought  from 
the  nobles,  or  the  cession  of  them  was  extorted  by  force; 
by  degrees  the  towns  acquired  an  independent  jurisdic- 
tion and  freed  themselves  from  all  taxes,  tolls,  and  rents, 
and  each  place  was  fairly  started  on  a  new  and  prosper- 
ous career.  The  trading  class  then  divided  itself  into 
guilds,  with  particular  rights  and  obligations.  Thus  did 
cities  grow,  in  many  cases,  to  be  independent  Republics, 
in  Italy,  in  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany,  and  France. 
The  trade  of  Northern  Europe  belonged  chiefly  to 
the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  North  Sea  (or  Ger- 
man Ocean),  and  the  Baltic  Sea,  on  the  coasts  of  Hol- 
land, France,  England,  Germany,  Denmark,  Norway 
and  Sweden.  The  sea,  in  the  middle  of  the  Thirteenth 
Century,  still  swarmed  with  pirates,  and  the  German 
trade,  in  particular,  suffered  greatly  from  their  depreda- 
tions. The  first  trading  town  erected  on  the  Baltic 
coast  was  Liibeck,  founded  in  A.  D.  1140,  and  this  town 
became  independent  of  any  sovereign,  except  the  Ger- 
man Emperor,  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  Near  to 
Liibeck,  but  connected  with  the  North  Sea  coast,  Ham- 
burg (founded  by  Charles  the  Great  in  808,)  became  an 
important  center  of  commerce  in  the  Twelfth  Century, 
and  independent  of  its  feudal  Lord,  the  bishop,  by  pur- 
chase of  his  rights  in  1225.  Bremen  was  established  in 
the  Eighth  Century,  and  became  a  flourishing  place. 
Riga,  on  the  eastern  Baltic  coast,  was  founded  by  a  col- 
only  from  Bremen  about  1190.  Dantzic  (or  Danzig), 
became  great  in  commerce  in  the  Fourteenth  Century, 
having  been  founded  long  before  in  the  Tenth.  Konigs- 
berg  was  founded  in  1255,  and  soon  became  an  impor- 
tant seat  of  trade.  The  chief  trading  city  on  the  Rhine 
was  Cologne  (a  Roman  colony,  Colonia  Agrippina  of 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          419 

A.  D.  51,  annexed  to  the  German  Empire  in  870),  which 
carried  on  an  extensive  commerce  by  the  Eleventh  Cen- 
tury in  wine,  corn,  flour,  malt,  etc.  In  Flanders,  Bruges 
(now  so  fair  in  her  decay) — the  Northern  Venice,  city 
of  canals — was  a  fortified  town  by  the  middle  of  the 
Ninth  Century,  and  in  the  Fourteenth  had  become  one 
of  the  greatest  commercial  cities  in  all  Europe,  being  the 
chief  entrepot  both  for  Mediterranean  and  northern 
merchandise.  Ghent,  also  in  Flanders,  was  another  city 
of  canals  and  islands,  already  famed  in  the  Twelfth  Cen- 
tury for  her  woolen  manufacture,  and  by  the  end  of  the 
Thirteenth  it  was  one  of  the  largest  towns  in  Europe, 
far  surpassing  the  Paris  of  that  age.  The  greatness  of 
Antwerp  comes  later,  dating  from  early  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century.  Among  these  commercial  towns,  and  others 
such  as  these,  there  arose  in  the  Thirteenth  Century 
confederacies  for  mutual  protection  against  pirates  and 
robbers,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  their  common  inter- 
ests. The  chief  of  these  trade  alliances  was  that  called 
(from  the  old  German-Gothic  word  Hansa,  "a  league") 
the  Hansa,  or  Hanseatic  League.  This  powerful  con- 
federacy embraced  at  last  ninety  maritime  and  inland 
towns,  scattered  over  Holland,  England,  Norway,  Ger- 
many, Poland,  and  Russia.  The  head  town  of  the 
League  was  Liibeck,  being  the  meeting-place  of  the  depu- 
ties from  the  other  towns,  and  the  chief  trading  centers 
were  Novgorod  in  Russia,  Bruges,  London,  and  Bergen 
in  Norway.  In  the  Fourteenth  Century  the  Hanseatic 
League  had  attained  great  political  importance,  which  it 
kept  until  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

The  southern  commerce  of  Europe  was  found,  of 
course,  chiefly  upon  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
— on  the  eastern  coast  of  Spain,  in  Provence  and  Lan- 
guedoc,  in  Italy  and  Greece,  at  Constantinople,  in  Asia 


420     ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt.  Commercial  intercourse  be- 
tween northern  and  southern  Europe  began  early  in  the 
Fourteenth  Century,  and  we  soon  find  Genoese  ships 
trading  to  Flanders  and  England.  The  north  of  Italy 
was  the  flourishing  part  of  the  peninsula,  deriving 
\vealth  from  the  tillage  of  the  rich  plains  of  Lombardy, 
which  exported  large  quantities  of  corn  in  the  Thirteenth 
and  Fourteenth  Centuries,  though  the  country  had  a  large 
population  of  its  own  to  feed.  The  Italian  cities,  begin- 
ning with  the  Eleventh  Century,  divided  most  of  the  land 
among  them,  so  that  it  became  "an  assemblage  of  com- 
monwealths, independent  of  any  power  but  that  of  the 
German  Emperor."  Of  these  cities,  Florence  became 
important  early  in  the  Twelfth  Century,  through  the  in- 
dustry and  enterprise  of  her  inhabitants.  She  had  com- 
mercial establishments  in  the  Levant,  France  and  other 
parts,  and  her  trading-class  included  money-changers, 
money-lenders,  jewelers,  and  goldsmiths.  Pisa  (an  an- 
cient Etruscan  city,  and  then  a  Roman  colony)  became 
an  independent  Republic  in  A.  D.  888,  and  in  the  Tenth 
Century,  by  military  prowess  and  commercial  enterprise, 
took  a  lead  among  the  Italian  States.  The  Pisans 
greatly  distinguished  themselves  against  the  Saracens, 
driving  them  from  Sardinia  in  1025,  conquering  the  Bal- 
earic Isles  in  1114,  and  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the 
Crusades.  In  the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries  the 
power  of  Pisa  was  at  its  height,  her  trade  was  spread 
over  the  whole  Mediterranean,  and  she  was  supreme  in 
the  Italian  Islands,  and  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Italy. 
Genoa  was  her  great  rival,  and  to  her  and  Florence  the 
Pisans  gradually  lost  their  power.  Genoa  (a  Ligurian 
city,  named  by  Livy  as  Genua,  among  Roman  allies  in 
the  second  Punic  war,  and  then  a  Roman  municipal 
town)  became  a  Republic  after  the  time  of  Charles  the 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES  421 

Great,  and  was  noted  in  the  trade  with  the  Levant.  In 
1174  Genoa  possessed  nearly  all  the  coast  of  Provence, 
and  the  Island  of  Corsica.  She  had  a  long  struggle  with 
Pisa  for  dominion  in  the  west  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 
then  with  Venice  for  supremacy  in  the  east  of  the  great 
inland  sea.  The  Genoese  trade  was  at  its  height  about 
the  middle  of  the  Thirteenth  Century,  when  Genoa  had 
a  large  share  in  the  commerce  of  the  Greek  Empire,  and 
also  control  of  trade  in  the  Black  Sea,  obtaining  com- 
modities even  from  India  by  way  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

Venice  became  firmly  seated  on  her  islands  in  the 
Ninth  Century,  and  owed  much  of  her  subsequent  pros- 
perity to  the  Crusades.  Her  shipping  was  largely  and 
profitably  used  to  convey  troops  and  stores  to  the  East. 
In  1204  her  Doge,  Henry  Dandolo,  aided  the  French 
Crusaders  to  capture  Constantinople.  Venice  then  ac- 
quired much  territory  on  the  Adriatic  coast,  and  many 
islands,  including  Candia  (now  Crete),  her  merchants 
having  in  their  hands  all  the  commerce  of  the  Archi- 
pelago. By  the  close  of  the  Fifteenth  Century  Venice 
was  the  greatest  trading  city  in  Europe,  and  then  her 
commerce  began  to  decline.  Amalfi  (about  twenty 
miles  south  of  Naples)  became  great  in  the  Ninth  Cen- 
tury as  a  Republic,  and  was  distinguished  in  exertions 
against  the  Saracens.  Before  the  Crusades  she  had  the 
chief  part  of  the  trade  with  the  Saracenic  countries,  and 
was  prosperous  for  nearly  three  centuries,  till  she  was 
attacked  and  plundered  by  the  Norman  conqueror  Rob- 
ert Guiscard,  in  1075,  and  again  by  Pisa  in  1130.  After 
this,  Amalfi  declined. 

In  the  south  of  what  is  now  France,  Marseilles  kept 
some  of  her  ancient  trade.  Narbonne  (the  first  colony 
founded  by  the  Romans  beyond  the  Alps)  was  a  place  of 
m^ch  commerce,  Nisme.s  (or  Nimes),  famous  $tiU  for 


422      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

her  beautiful  Roman  remains,  had  also  a  flourishing 
trade.  Montpellier  was  greater  still  at  this  epoch,  and 
possessed  a  university  before  the  end  of  the  Twelfth  Cen- 
tury. In  Spain  Barcelona  began  to  rival  the  Italian 
cities,  both  in  trade  and  in  war,  at  the  middle  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Century.  Her  vessels  went  to  every  part  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  even  to  ihe  English  Channel;  she 
fought,  not  without  success,  against  the  powerful  Genoa. 
The  commerce  of  Barcelona  was  at  its  best  in  the  Fif- 
teenth Century.  The  growth  of  commerce  at  this  time 
was  closely  connected,  as  usual,  with  progress  in  manu- 
factures. One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  of 
these  was  the  woolen  manufacture  of  Flanders.  By 
the  Twelfth  Century  this  had  become  flourishing,  and  so 
great  in  the  Thirteenth  that  a  writer  asserts,  with  evident 
exaggeration,  that  all  the  world  was  clothed  from  Eng- 
lish wool  worked  up  in  Flanders.  By  the  Fourteenth 
Century  Flanders  was  a  market  for  the  traders  of  the 
whole  civilized  world.  Merchants  from  seventeen  King- 
doms lived  at  Bruges,  which  city,  as  well  as  Ghent,  was 
a  chief  seat  of  the  industry  in  woolen  wares.  England 
became  a  rival  of  Flanders  in  this  trade,  after  Edward 
III,  the  father  of  English  commerce,  encouraged  Flem- 
ish weavers  to  settle  there.  Wool  was  at  this  time  the 
chief  English  article  of  export  and  source  of  revenue. 
There  was  also  much  making  of  woolen  stuffs  in  Italy, 
southern  France,  and  eastern  Spain.  Robert  Guiscard, 
the  Norman,  introduced  a  manufacture  of  silk  at  Paler- 
mo, in  the  north  of  Sicily,  about  A.  D.  1075.  About 
the  same  time  the  Genoese  derived  a  knowledge  of  this 
from  the  Moors  of  Spain.  In  the  last  part  of  the  Twelfth 
Century,  silk-producing  and  silk-weaving  became  com- 
mon in  northern  Italy,  and  the  laws  of  the  cities  enforced 
the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry-tree. 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          423 

The  Rhodians  of  old  introduced  a  code  of  maritime 
law,  and  this  was  adopted  by  the  Roman  Emperors. 
About  the  middle  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  a  written 
code  of  law  had  come  into  existence  containing  mercan- 
tile regulations,  and  making  a  good  beginning  for  the 
law  of  nations  by  defining  the  mutual  rights  of  neutral 
and  belligerent  vessels.  This  code  soon  acquired  a  bind- 
ing force  within  the  limits  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
and  the  merchant  law  of  modern  Europe  is  mainly 
founded  on  its  provisions.  In  the  Thirteenth  and  Four- 
teenth Centuries  piracy  was  still  common,  and  much 
trouble  was  caused  through  reprisals  made  by  the  people 
of  one  country  on  those  of  another.  This  half-recog- 
nized usage  of  retaliating  upon  the  innocent  for  the 
doings  of  the  guilty  citizens  of  a  State  was  the  origin  of 
the  modern  customs  of  granting  letters  of  marque  for 
privateering,  abolished  by  a  convention  of  the  great 
powers  in  1856. 

Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  interest  of  money 
was  very  high,  varying  from  7  to  20  per  cent.  The  the- 
ologians of  that  day  declared  usury  to  be  a  crime,  and 
the  trade  of  money-lending,  as  well  as  much  of  the  gen- 
eral inland  commerce,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  not 
quite  unknown  in  our  times  for  the  same  occupations, 
and  the  cruel  persecution  connected  therewith.  The 
Jews,  however,  flourished  greatly,  and  in  the  Twelfth 
Century  are  found  in  Languedoc  as  possessors  of  landed 
property.  They  were  very  numerous  in  Spain,  and 
were  protected  by  Princes  for  their  diligence  and  skill 
in  money  matters.  The  trade  in  money  was  transferred, 
to  a  great  extent,  to  other  hands  early  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century.  At  that  time,  the  merchants  of  Lombardy  and 
of  the  south  of  France  took  up  the  business  of  remitting 
money  by  bills  of  exchange,  and  of  making  profit  upon 


4*4      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

loans.  The  convenience  of  the  system  was  found  to  be 
such,  that  the  Lombard  usurers  established  themselves 
in  every  country,  from  which  "Lombard  Street,"  the 
locality  of  banks  in  the  City  of  London,  and  the  pawn- 
brokers' sign  of  the  three  golden  balls,  the  arms  of  Lom- 
bardy,  is  derived.  A  bank  of  deposit  is  said  to  have  been 
established  at  Barcelona  in  1401. 

From  the  Twelfth  Century  a  change  begins  in  the 
universal  acceptance  by  mankind,  in  Western  and  Cen- 
tral Europe,  of  the  orthodox  faith  of  Rome.  In  that  age 
there  broke  in  upon  the  Church  a  flood  of  heresy  which  £**£» 
no  persecution  was  able  thoroughly  to  repress,  till  it 
finally  overspread  half  the  surface  of  Europe.  An  erro- 
neous belief  (as  judged  by  the  accepted  standard  of  the 
Scriptures)  concerning  both  the  Creator  of  the  world 
and  the  person  of  Christ  had  been  carried  from  Armenia, 
in  Asia  Minor,  by  exiles  into  Bulgaria.  From  this  set- 
tlement these  doctrines  spread,  by  way  of  the  Danube, 
through  Hungary  and  Bavaria,  and  also  by  way  of  Lom- 
bardy  and  Switzerland,  into  Western  Europe.  It  is  not 
to  be  supposed,  when  we  speak  of  heresy  (or  false  doc- 
trine), that  the  particular  views  above  mentioned  are 
intended.  The  point  is,  that  men  should  have  begun 
to  dare  to  think  for  themselves  in  religious  matters,  to 
reject  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  and  to  protest,  as  they 
did,  against  the  wealth  and  tyranny  (as  they  called  it)  of 
the  clergy.  The  existence  of  such  a  spirit  is  the  fact  to 
be  borne  in  mind.  Besides  the  Albigenses,  we  find  a 
sect  called  the  Waldenses,  deriving  their  name  from 
Peter  Waldo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons,  who  headed  a  con- 
gregation of  seceders  from  the  Church  about  the  year 
1 1 60.  This  sect  spread  rapidly  over  France  and  Ger- 
many. They  were  found  chiefly  and  are  still  in  the 
mountain  district  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  southwest  of 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          425 

Turin.  The  opinions  of  these  people  resembled  those  of 
the  modern  Moravians,  and  were  of  what  is  called  a 
Protestant  character.  The  Bible  alone  was  the  rule  of 
their  faith.  They  rejected  all  that  was  not  in  accord- 
ance with  apostolic  antiquity.  They  renounced  en- 
tirely the  usages  and  traditions  of  the  Roman  Church. 
They  suffered  persecution  along  with  the  Albigenses, 
and  have  been  thereby  confounded  with  them.  It  is 
probable  that  the  effect  of  the  preaching  of  these  and 
other  heretical  sectaries  was  very  extensive,  since  they 
appear,  nearly  during  the  same  period,  in  Lombardy, 
Germany,  Flanders,  Spain,  France,  and  England.  It 
was  chiefly  among  the  lower  class  of  people  that  their 
influence  extended. 

A  letter  of  Innocent  III  (Pope,  1198-1216)  shows 
that  certain  laymen  had  procured  a  translation  of  parts 
of  Scripture  into  their  own  tongue  (French),  and  were 
in  the  habit  of  meeting  in  secret  conventicles  to  read 
and  preach  to  each  other,  avoiding  the  services  of  the 
Church  altogether.  Innocent  rebuked  these  practices 
in  a  temperate  way.  The  fact  of  their  existence  was, 
however,  more  ominous  for  the  power  of  the  papacy 
than  all  the  defiance  of  a  monarch  like  King  John,  whom 
Innocent  took  pains  to  crush  and  bring  to  terms.  Por- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  were  translated  from  time  to 
time,  even  during  the  Dark  Ages,  into  the  vernacular 
tongues,  and  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  in  1229,  prohib- 
ited the  laity's  possessing  the  Scriptures.  In  the  Thir- 
teenth and  Fourteenth  Centuries  other  sects  revolted 
from  the  established  Church.  The  doings  of  Wicklif  in 
England  are  familiar  as  well  as  the  persecutions  which 
put  down  the  Lollards.  In  Bohemia  John  Huss  fol- 
lowed the  teaching  of  Wicklif.  Huss  began  to  preach  at. 
ue  in  1402,  angl  t>qldly  advocated  reformj  \\\i\<&. 


426      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

would,  as  he  contended,  restore  the  purity  and  simplic- 
ity of  Scriptural  Christianity.  In  consequence  of  his 
teaching,  a  large  body  of  German  professors  and  stu- 
dents, objecting  to  his  views,  left  Prague  and  founded 
the  University  of  Leipsic.  In  1409  Huss  became  rector 
of  the  University  of  Prague,  and  attacked  in  many  points 
the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Church.  Summoned 
to  Rome  by  successive  Popes,  he  declined  to  appear, 
appealed  to  a  general  council  of  the  Church,  and  was 
then  excommunicated,  Prague  being  laid  under  an  inter- 
dict as  long  as  Huss  should  remain  in  it.  Huss  then  left 
Prague,  and  continued  his  preaching.  In  1414  he  de- 
cided to  attend  the  Council  of  Constance  in  Switzerland, 
and  defend  his  opinions  there  before  the  clergy  of  all 
nations.  The  Emperor  Sigismund  of  Germany  gave 
Huss  letters  of  safe-conduct,  pledging  himself  for  his 
personal  security.  When  Huss  reached  Constance  in 
November,  1414,  he  was  imprisoned,  and  kept  there 
against  the  remonstrances  of  the  Bohemian  and  Mora- 
vian nobles.  At  a  public  examination  before  the  coun- 
cil in  June,  1415,  in  presence  of  the  Emperor,  Huss 
refused  to  withdraw  his  heresies,  and  on  July  6th  was 
condemned  and  burned  to  death,  his  ashes  being  thrown 
into  the  Rhine.  Such  agitations  were  prophetic  of  the 
great  revolution  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  known  as  the 
Reformation. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  increase  of  wealth  led  to 
greater  comfort  in  the  daily  life  of  mankind.  The 
growth  of  commerce  and  manufactures  at  once  supplied 
improvements  in  this  way,  and  gave  the  means  of  pro- 
curing them.  We  learn  the  state  of  things  in  Italy, 
which  was  superior  in  refinement  to  France,  Germany, 
and  England,  from  a  writer  of  about  the  year  1300.  In 
speaking  of  the  age  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          427 

(reigned  1218  to  1250)  he  declares  that  then  "the  man- 
ners of  the  Italians  were  rude;  that  a  man  and  his  wife 
ate  off  the  same  plate;  no  wooden-handled  knives,  and 
not  more  than  one  or  two  drinking-cups  in  a  house; 
candles  of  wax  or  tallow  unknown,  and  a  servant  held 
a  torch  during  supper.  The  clothes  of  men  were  of 
leather  unlined;  scarcely  any  gold  or  silver  was  seen  on 
their  dress.  The  common  people  ate  flesh  but  three 
times  a  week,  and  kept  their  cold  meat  for  supper.  Many 
did  not  drink  wine  in  summer.  A  small  stock  of  corn 
seemed  riches.  The  portions  (dowries  in  marriage)  of 
women  were  small ;  their  dress,  even  after  marriage,  was 
simple.  The  pride  of  men  was  to  be  well  provided  with 
arms  and  horses.  But  now  (about  A.  D.  1300)  frugality 
has  been  changed  for  sumptuousness;  everything  ex- 
quisite is  sought  after  in  dress;  gold,  silver,  pearls,  silks 
and  rich  furs.  Foreign  wines  and  rich  meats  are  re- 
quired." In  1266  we  hear  of  the  Provencal  knights  with 
plumed  helmets  and  golden  collars,  and  of  a  queen's 
chariot  covered  with  blue  velvet,  and  sprinkled  with 
lilies  of  gold.  Provence  had  enjoyed  a  long  tranquillity, 
the  natural  source  of  luxurious  magnificance;  and  Italy, 
now  liberated,  under  her  Republics,  from  the  yoke  of  the 
German  Empire,  soon  reaped  the  same  fruit  of  a  condi- 
tion more  easy  and  peaceful  than  had  been  her  lot  for 
several  ages.  The  great  poet  Dante  (lived  A.  D.  1265 
to  1321)  speaks  of  the  change  of  manners  at  Florence, 
from  simplicity  and  virtue  to  refinement  and  dissolute- 
ness. In  the  Fourteenth  Century  there  was  a  steady  pro- 
gression in  England  and  France  of  elegance  and  luxury; 
the  clergy  denounced  fantastic  extravagances  of  fashion 
in  dress,  and  sumptuary  laws  were  passed  to  restrain 
expensiveness  in  apparel  and  food.  In  Germany,  the 
growth  of  freedom  and  commerce,  and  the  rise  gf  a.rti- 


428      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

sans  to  the  condition  of  free  burghers,  caused  a  great 
improvement  in  the  way  of  comfort  and  elegance  of  life. 
Competence  was  diffused  over  a  large  class  of  indusr 
trious  freemen;  and,  in  the  Fifteenth  Century,  an  Italian 
writer  dwells  on  the  splendid  and  well-furnished  dwell- 
ings, rich  apparel,  easy  and  affluent  mode  of  living,  secu- 
rity of  rights,  and  equality  of  laws,  to  be  found  in  such 
cities  as  Spires,  Nuremberg,  Ratisbon,  and  Augsburg. 
The  steadiness  and  frugality  of  the  German  character 
were  of  great  advantage  to  the  working-class. 

The  improvement  in  domestic  architecture  in  Europe 
during  the  last  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  an  indica- 
tion of  the  general  progress  in  social  life.  In  England, 
during  the  Fourteenth  Century,  the  massive  baronial 
castles,  with  mere  loopholes  for  windows  on  the  lowest 
story,  and  the  windows  in  the  upper  rooms  all  looking 
inward  to  the  court,  began  to  give  way  to  such  splen- 
did castle-palaces  as  those  of  Windsor,  Alnwick,  Kenil- 
worth,  and  Warwick.  Large  arched  windows,  like  those 
of  cathedrals,  were  introduced  into  halls,  and  this 
change  in  architecture  bears  witness  to  the  cessation  of 
baronial  wars  and  the  increasing  love  of  splendor  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.  In  the  Fifteenth  Century  came  the 
castellated  houses  to  be  seen  in  Herstmonceux  in  Sus- 
sex, Haddon  Hall  in  Derbyshire,  and  the  older  part. of 
Knole  in  Kent.  Early  in  the  Fourteenth  Century  the  art 
of  building  with  brick,  lost  since  the  Roman  dominion, 
was  introduced  into  England,  probably  from  Flanders, 
and  superseded  to  a  great  extent  the  use  of  stone  and  of 
timber  of  the  oak  forests.  The  English  gentry  at  this 
time,  however,  were  generally  lodged  in  manor-houses 
of  little  capacity  or  convenience.  The  two  chief  im- 
provements in  domestic  architecture  during  the  Middle 
Ages  were  things,  one  of  which  the  civilUatiQn  $ve.n  Qi 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          42$ 

Greece  and  Rome  had  nevej  devised — chimneys  and 
glass  windows.  About  the  middle  of  the  Fourteenth 
Century  the  use  of  chimneys,  unknown  to  the  ancients, 
is  mentioned  in  Italy  and  England.  The  art  of  making 
glass  had  been  lost  in  this  country,  but  preserved  in 
France,  whence  artificers  were  brought  into  England  to 
furnish  the  windows  in  some  new  churches  as  early  as 
the  Seventh  Century.  Glass  for  domestic  use  did  not 
come,  however,  into  general  use  during  the  Middle  Ages. 
In  other  matters  of  domestic  comfort,  that  epoch  was  in 
a  very  inferior  condition.  The  walls  of  a  gentleman's 
house  were  commonly  bare,  without  wainscot  or  plaster; 
few  such  abodes  had  as  many  as  three  or  four  soft  beds; 
no  books  nor  pictures  were  to  be  seen;  silver  plate  was 
rare;  chairs,  looking-glasses,  and  carpets  were  almost 
unknown  even  in  the  great  houses.  The  farm-houses 
and  cottages  of  that  time  were  much  more  like  what 
they  are  at  present,  save  for  the  modern  use  of  tiles  and 
slates  instead  of  thatch.  The  architecture  of  the  Mid- 
d/e  Ages  can  boast  of  durability  and  grandeur,  and  in 
the  ecclesiastical  way,  with  which  we  shall  presently  deal, 
has  infinite  grace  and  beauty. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  power  of  monarchs 
became  limited  over  all  Western  and  Central  Europe, 
and  in  Sweden  and  Denmark,  by  some  kind  of  national 
assembly,  representing  the  different  clasess  of  freemen 
in  the  nation — the  nobles,  the  clergy,  and  the  commons 
(or  citizens,  in  general,  of  the  towns).  These  assemblies 
met  in  each  country  for  the  purpose  of  granting  money 
to  the  sovereign  to  defray  expenses  of  government,  and 
also  of  requiring  changes  in  the  laws  or  other  reforms, 
?ld  the  consent  of  these  bodies  of  representatives  was 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  some  public  acts.  But  these 
representative  assemblies  gradually  declined  before  the 


430      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

acquirement  of  absolute  power  by  the  monarchs  of 
Western  and  Central  Europe,  save  in  England  alone. 
There,  as  money  became  more  than  ever  necessary  to 
the  sovereign  for  the  expenses  of  civil  government,  and 
(in  the  continental  countries)  for  the  support  of  a 
regular  army,  did  the  Parliament  take  a  firm  stand 
on  its  constitutional  right  to  give  or  withhold  money, 
and  refuse  to  supply  funds  for  the  support  of  armies  till 
securities  had  been  provided  against  despotism.  In  the 
Fifteenth  Century,  in  Spain,  the  Kingdoms  of  Castile 
and  of  Aragon  had  constitutions  quite  as  free  as  that 
of  England;  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  those  free  consti- 
tutions perished  under  the  attacks  of  Charles  the  Fifth 
and  Philip  the  Second.  In  France,  the  power  of  the 
Parliament  gradually  decayed,  and  died  out  from  sheer 
lack  of  the  vitality  which  public  spirit  and  political  intel- 
ligence in  the  body  of  the  nation  could  alone  supply. 
In  Italy,  with  her  commonwealths,  the  history  of  affairs 
took  a  special  course,  which  we  shall  deal  with  hereafter. 
In  Denmark  and  Sweden  the  Kings  became  absolute 
by  taking  advantage  of  the  quarrels  between  the  nobles 
and  commons,  which  made  both  an  easy  prey  to  usurpa- 
tion of  their  constitutional  rights  by  the  crown.  In 
Germany,  the  national  assemblies,  called  Diets,  became 
gradually  subservient  to  the  Emperors,  and  lost  all  real- 
ity of  power. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages  a  general 
increase  of  popular  freedom  took  place  in  the  abolition 
of  the  servitude  or  semi-servitude  of  the  feudal  times, 
as  regards  the  domestic  slaves  and  the  serfs  attached  to 
the  land.  This  change  occurred  in  various  ways,  work- 
ing in  deference  to  the  general  advance  of  intelligence 
and  morality.  In  some  instances  the  feudal  masters 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          431 

gave  freedom  to  their  serfs  at  the  bidding  of  the  church; 
in  others,  freedom  was  acquired  by  residence  for  a  cer- 
tain time  in  a  chartered  town.  Justice  began  to  be 
administered  more  regularly  according  to  fixed  laws, 
and  a  more  effectual  police  was  maintained.  The  courts 
of  judicature,  whether  they  were  guided  by  the  feudal 
customs  or  by  the  Roman  law,  resolved  questions  with 
precision  and  uniformity,  and  the  public  ideas  of  justice 
and  good  faith  were  thereby  amended.  By  the  close  of 
the  Middle  Ages  a  great  improvement  in  the  general 
maintenance  of  order  was  to  be  observed.  Lawless 
rapine  and  the  private  warfare  between  feudal  barons 
had  almost  ceased.  A  regular  police  was  established 
in  towns  for  internal  security  and  for  defense  against 
marauders  outside  the  walls.  The  increase  of  wealth, 
and  of  the  numbers  of  those  who,  in  their  degree,  pos- 
sessed somewhat  to  defend,  produced  the  effect  usual 
in  free  communities,  of  greater  security  to  property  and 
life.  As  the  mind  of  Europe  began  to  awake  from  the 
sleep  of  the  Dark  Ages,  the  study  of  civil  law  was  one 
of  the  earliest  signs  of  new  intellectual  life.  The  sys- 
tem of  jurisprudence  contained  in  the  code  of  Justinian, 
which  has  been  already  described,  was  taught  early  in 
the  Twelfth  Century  in  a  school  of  civil  law  at  Bologna, 
in  Italy.  Rapid  progress  was  made  in  this  new  pursuit. 
Lombardy  became  rich  in  learned  lawyers,  and  the 
Bologna  schools  were  distinguished  throughout  this 
century.  Universities  arose  at  Naples,  Padua,  and 
other  places,  and  the  Roman  law  was  there,  too,  a  chief 
object  of  study.  The  municipal  freedom  of  the  Italian 
cities,  where  matters  of  dispute  were  settled  by  magis- 
trates chosen  by  the  citizens  themselves,  led  to  the  com- 
pilation of  a  more  extensive  and  accurate  code  of  writ- 
ten laws,  based  upon  the  Roman  system,  and  the  fame 


ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  this  renovated  jurisprudence  spread  from  Italy  over 
other  parts  of  Europe.  Justinian's  code  was  studied  in 
the  universities  of  Montpellier  and  Toulouse,  and  the 
Roman  law  became  the  rule  of  all  tribunals  in  the  south 
of  France,  in  Spain,  and  in  Germany,  possessing  also 
much  influence  in  northern  France.  So  justly  great 
have  been  the  renown  and  authority  of  the  old  Roman 
jurists,  that  portions  of  their  law  have  been  wrought 
into  the  modern  codes  of  France  and  Prussia,  and  their 
sagacity  is  likely  to  be  a  guide  to  legislators  for  genera- 
tions still  far  distant  from  our  times.  Thus  grandly  dur- 
able in  its  beneficence  is  some  of  the  work  done  for 
mankind  by  the  men  of  ancient  Rome. 

The  establishment  of  public  schools  in  France  was 
due  to  Charles  the  Great.  His  two  successors,  Louis 
the  Debonnaire  and  Charles  the  Bald,  also  encouraged 
learning,  and  even  in  the  Ninth  Century  schools  flour- 
ished at  Lyons,  Rheims,  and  in  other  cities.  The  basis 
of  study  at  this  time  was,  however,  very  cramped  and 
pedantic;  even  Alcuin  forbade  the  reading  of  the  Latin 
poets,  and  general  learning  (or  all  beyond  the  study  of 
a  narrow  theology)  was  discouraged.  Early  in  the 
Twelfth  Century  the  new  ardor  for  intellectual  pursuits 
began  to  show  itself  in  Europe.  The  first  university  to 
become  distinguished  was  that  of  Paris,  under  the  teach- 
ing of  the  famous  Abelard,  a  schoolman  or  scholastic 
philosopher  of  bold  and  brilliant  genius.  Abelard  was 
noted  in  his  own  day  as  a  grammarian,  orator,  logician, 
poet,  musician,  philosopher,  theologian,  and  mathema- 
tician ;  by  a  strange  fate,  he  is  now  celebrated  only  as  the 
martyr  of  love,  through  the  letters  which  passed  between 
him  and  Heloise,  with  whom  he  was  miserably  and 
shamefully  connected.  He  began  to  lecture  at  Paris  on 
rhetoric,  philosophy,  and  theology  about  1104,  and  had 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          433 

St  Bernard  among  his  pupils.  His  own  misconduct 
drove  him  from  Paris,  and  he  was  condemned  for 
heresy  at  a  council  in  1122,  and  died  in  disgrace  and 
misery  in  1142.  Abelard  was  almost  the  first  who 
awakened  mankind  after  the  Dark  Ages  to  a  sympathy 
with  intellectual  excellence,  and  his  life  is  remarkable 
amongst  those  of  literary  men  for  success  and  failure, 
glory  and  shame,  the  admiration  and  the  persecution  of 
mankind.  In  England  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  .  arose,  that  of  Oxford  being  a  school  of 
learning  before  the  Norman  Conquest,  that  of  Cam- 
bridge being  founded  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  In 
Germany,  the  first  university  was  that  of  Prague, 
founded  in  1350;  that  of  Leipsic  (Leipzig)  followed  in 
1409.  In  Spain,  the  University  of  Salamanca  was 
founded  about  the  end  of  the  Twelfth  Century,  and  be- 
came famous,  flourishing  till  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
The  golden  age  of  universities  began  with  the  Thir- 
teenth Century,  and  students  from  all  parts  of  Europe 
resorted  to  them,  that  of  Paris  being  more  frequented 
than  any  other.  There  were  also,  in  France,  the  Uni- 
versities of  Orleans,  Angers,  Bourges,  and  Toulouse. 
In  the  Twelfth  Century  the  Jews  cultivated  the  studies 
of  medicine  and  the  Rabbinical  literature  in  their  own 
academy  at  Montpellier. 

The  University  of  Paris  was  unrivaled  for  the  study 
of  scholastic  theology.*  A  peculiar  product  of  the  awak- 
ened intellect  of  mankind  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages 
was  the  scholastic  philosophy,  the  great  aim  of  which 
was  to  reduce  the  doctrines  of  the  church  to  a  scientific 
system. 

The  two  great  names  in  science  during  the  Middle 
Ages  are  those  of  Albertus  Magnus  and  Roger  Bacon. 

*  See  the  "Scholastics"  in  Volume  "World's  Great  Philosophers." 
Voi,  i  —  28 


434      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

Albertus  Magnus,  a  native  of  Swabia,  became  in  1222  a 
monk  of  the  Dominican  order,  and  had  the  great  Thomas 
Aquinas  as  his  pupil  at  Cologne,  where  Albertus  became 
rector  in  1249.  He  rose  to  be  Bishop  of  Ratisbon  in  1260, 
but  soon  resigned  his  charge  in  order  to  devote  himself 
to  literary  and  scientific  work.  He  wrote  commentaries 
on  Aristotle,  and  studied  the  sciences  of  arithmetic,  geom- 
etry, optics,  music,  and  astronomy.  Albertus  Magnus 
was  probably  the  most  learned  man  of  his  age,  and  was 
so  far  beyond  most  of  his  contemporaries  that  he  was 
accused  of  dealing  in  magical  arts,  or  holding  communion 
with  Satan — the  penalty  of  intellectual  attainments  and 
originality  at  that  time.  Roger  Bacon  was  one  of  the 
greatest  men  that  arose  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  pos- 
sessed extraordinary  genius  for  scientific  research  and  dis- 
covery. Born  in  1214,  in  Somersetshire,  he  showed  an 
early  taste  for  learning,  studied  at  Oxford  and  at  Paris, 
and  became  a  Franciscan  monk  at  Oxford  in  1240.  He 
was  a  good  scholar  in  Latin,  Hebrew,  and  Greek — a  rare 
thing  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  He  was  thwarted  in  his 
scientific  studies  both  by  poverty  and  by  the  jealousy  of 
the  monks  of  his  order,  who  denounced  his  opinions  to 
the  Pope,  and  caused  his  imprisonment  for  a  time.  A  new 
Pope,  Clement  IV  (1265-69),  admired  Bacon's  abilities, 
and  encouraged  him  to  write.  This  led  to  the  production 
in  1268-69  of  his  chief  book,  the  Opus  Majus  ("Greater 
Work"),  followed  by  two  others.  These  books  of  Bacon 
the  Friar  laid  the  foundations  of  the  philosophy  of  Bacon 
the  Chancellor  at  a  later  time.  The  great  Franciscan 
declared  that  the  four  grounds  of  human  ignorance  were 
— "trust  in  inadequate  authority,  the  force  of  custom,  the 
opinion  of  the  inexperienced  crowd,  and  the  hiding  of 
one's  own  ignorance  with  the  parading  of  a  superficial 
wisdom."  This  teaching  is  worthy  of  Socrates  himself, 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          435 

and  entitles  Roger  Bacon  to  the  admiration  and  gratitude 
of  mankind,  when  we  consider  the  influences  by  which  he 
was  surrounded  and  the  persecution  which  he  fought  and 
endured.  He  advocated  the  "free  honest  questioning  of 
Nature,"  and  urged  students  to  aim  at  reading  books  in 
the  original  text,  especially  the  Bible  and  Aristotle.  He 
insisted  on  mathematics  as  important,  with  a  particular 
regard  for  optics,  and  on  the  experimental  study  of  nature, 
which  he  believed  to  be  at  the  root  of  all  sciences,  and  a 
basis  of  religion.  In  optics  this  ingenious  and  original 
observer  understood  the  refraction  of  light,  and  convex 
and  concave  lenses,  involving  the  principle  of  the  tele- 
scope, which  he  either  invented  or  improved.  He  was 
good  at  geography  and  astronomy,  and  made  a  corrected 
calendar,  of  which  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford  pos- 
sesses a  copy.  It  is  little  to  his  discredit,  in  such  an  age, 
that  he  believed  in  the  superstitions  of  astrology  and  of  the 
philosopher's  stone.  Roger  Bacon  (whose  invention  of 
gunpowder  is  a  matter  of  doubt)  is  a  man  of  whom  Eng- 
land may  well  be  proud,  as  an  early  forerunner  of  his  illus- 
trious namesake  and  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  the  prince  of 
all  natural  philosophers.  After  being  accused  of  magical 
arts,  and  enduring  a  second  imprisonment  for  ten  years, 
he  died  about  1293. 

Early  in  the  Twelfth  Century  Arabian  writings  on  ge- 
ometry and  physical  science  were  brought  into  Europe.  A 
high  degree  of  culture  had  been  reached  in  Spain  by  its 
Mohammedan  conquerors  as  early  as  the  Tenth  Century. 
Schools,  libraries,  and  universities  were  established,  and 
professors  lectured  on  literature,  rhetoric,  astronomy,  and 
pure  mathematics.  The  works  of  Greek  philosophy  came, 
through  the  Arabic,  into  Latin,  and  so  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  European  scholars,  few  of  whom  could 
read  the  Greek  originals.  Among  the  Saracenic  scholars 


436      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

of  Spain  were  Avicenna,  a  physician  and  philosopher,  who 
died  in  1037,  an(^  Averroes,  of  Cordova,  a  famed  com- 
mentator on  Aristotle,  who  died  in  1198.  Zoology, 
botany,  chemistry,  and  especially  medicine,  were  studied, 
and  to  the  Moorish  civilization  we  owe  the  mode  of  nota- 
tion in  arithmetic,  called  the  Arabic  figures,  and  the  words 
algebra,  alcohol,  alchemy,  nadir,  zenith,  elixir,  syrup, 
cipher,  and  many  others.  The  Arabian  scholars  derived 
much  of  their  mathematical  knowledge  from  the  Greeks 
and  the  Hindoos.  The  caliphs  of  the  Saracenic  Empire 
in  Asia  had  caused  translations  to  be  made  into  Arabic 
from  Euclid,  Archimedes,  and  other  Greek  geometers. 
The  Arabian  arithmetic  (with  its  symbols)  came  from 
India;  algebra  either  from  the  Greeks  or  Hindoos.  A 
Saracenic  author  named  Ben  Musa  wrote  on  algebra  early 
in  the  Ninth  Century,  and  dealt  with  the  subject  so  far  as 
to  include  the  solution  of  quadratic  equations.  While  the 
scholars  of  Rome  and  Constantinople  were  declaring  the 
earth  to  be  flat,  the  Spanish  Moors  were  teaching  geog- 
raphy in  their  common  schools  from  globes,  and  the 
Arabs  were  the  first  to  build  in  Europe  observatories  for 
astronomical  research.  The  tower  which  the  Moors  built 
at  Seville  with  this  end  in  view  was  turned,  by  the  Span- 
iards who  drove  them  from  the  land,  into  a  belfry,  because 
they  did  not  know  what  else  to  make  of  it.  The  present 
condition  of  Spain  is  not  unconnected  with  what  lies 
underneath  the  surface  here.  It  is  a  fact  that  Europe,  long 
delivered  from  the  ages  of  darkness  and  brought  out  into 
a  marvelous  light,  has  never  to  this  day  made  any  fitting 
acknowledgment  of  the  great  debt  due  to  the  Mohamme- 
dan conquerors  of  Spain. 

Nor  must  the  Jewish  learning  in  the  Middle  Ages  be 
forgotten.  Astronomy,  philosophy,  mathematics,  and 
medicine  were  eagerly  studied  by  Jews  in  the  Arabian 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES          437 

schools  of  Spain.  In  the  Twelfth  Century  lived  the  great 
Jewish  Rabbi,  Maimonides,  born  at  Cordova,  a  man  who 
studied  Jewish  and  Arabic  literature  and  Greek  philosophy 
(in  an  Arabic  translation  of  Aristotle),  and  had  much 
acquaintance  with  medicine.  He  became  physician  to  the 
Sultan  of  Egypt,  and  acquired  great  fame  by  his  abilities, 
learning,  and  high  character.  His  theological  writings 
had  great  influence  on  Judaism,  and  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century  his  books  were  widely  circulated  in  Europe  by 
Latin  translations.  Maimonides  died  in  Egypt  in  1204, 
and  was  buried  in  Palestine. 

One  of  the  chief  causes  of  intellectual  improvement  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  development  of 
those  new  languages  that  sprang  out  of  the  corruption  of 
Latin — the  Romance  tongues.  The  Provencal  poets  of 
chivalry  and  romance  flourished,  in  the  Twelfth  and  Thir- 
teenth Centuries,  in  the  south  of  France  and  the  north  of 
Spain.  The  language  which  had  there  grown  up,  under 
sunny  skies  and  in  a  state  of  greater  freedom  than  was 
known  elsewhere,  was  noted  for  sweetness,  tenderness, 
clearness,  and  wealth.  The  region  where  this  luscious 
tongue  was  spoken  was  the  land  of  gallantry  and  song, 
and  of  religion  mingled  with  the  praise  of  earthly  love. 
The  taste  for  poetry  was  general  among  the  nobles  and 
the  knights,  and  greatly  encouraged  by  the  princes  of  the 
ruling  house.  In  their  court,  then  the  most  splendid  and 
refined  in  Europe,  was  gathered  the  circle  of  noble  poets 
called  Troubadours  (in  Italian,  Trovatori;  in  Norman- 
French,  Trouveres  or  Trouveurs,  i.e.  the  finders  or  invent- 
ors of  verses).  The  poetical  compositions  of  these  per- 
sons were  of  no  great  merit,  it  would  appear,  and  have 
mostly  perished;  but  they  greatly  influenced  modern 
poetry  in  the  way  of  rhyme  and  meters.  The  strains  of 
the  Provengal  poetry  were  of  that  class  which  is  allied  to 


438      ANCIENT  AND  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY 

music,  and  largely  dependent  upon  that  for  effect.  In  the 
Norman-French  dialect  of  the  North,  the  writers  called 
Trouveurs  produced  poetical  fictions  about  King  Arthur 
and  Charles  the  Great  toward  the  end  of  the  Twelfth  Cen- 
tury, and  in  the  Thirteenth  we  have  the  famous  Roman  de 
la  Rose,  a  poetical  allegory  of  love  and  other  passions.  In 
this  same  tongue — the  Langue  d'Oil  (corrupted  from 
Latin  hoc  illud},  as  opposed  to  the  Proveii9al  or  Langue 
d'Oc — prose  romances,  history,  and  other  compositions 
began  to  be  written  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  In  the  early 
Spanish,  we  have  the  metrical  life  of  the  famous  hero, 
the  Cid,  Ruy  Diaz,  probably  written  about  the  middle  of 
the  Twelfth  Century. 

In  Italian,  the  Middle  Ages  produced  one  of  the  great- 
est of  all  poets,  Dante  (in  full,  Durante  Alighieri),  born 
at  Florence  in  1265.  His  great  poem  is  called  the  Divine 
Comedy,  and  is  a  representation  of  the  three  kingdoms  of 
futurity,  Hell,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise,  divided  into  one 
hundred  cantos,  containing  about  14,000  lines.  Dante 
created  his  country's  national  poetry,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  original  and  powerful  of  writers — bold  and  concise, 
and,  as  occasion  calls,  soft,  sweet,  and  terrible  in  turn. 
This  great  genius,  but  rudely  treated  in  his  lifetime,  and 
since  half  a  century  after  his  death  regarded  with  an 
immense  reverence  by  his  countrymen,  died  at  Ravenna  in 
1321.  His  poetry  was  the  first  good  verse  that  had 
appeared  in  Europe  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  he 
has  never  been  surpassed,  if  equaled,  in  epic  poetry  since. 
The  Italian  poet  Petrarch  (Francesco  Petrarch),  his 
country's  greatest  lyric  versifier,  lived  from  1304  to  1374, 
and  is  famous  for  his  sonnets,  his  love  for  Laura,  and  the 
services  which  he  rendered  in  the  revival  of  classical  learn- 
ing. His  merits  were  amply  recognized  in  his  lifetime 
and  in  1341  Petrarch  was  solemnly  crowned  with  a  wreath 


CIVILIZATION  IN  MIDDLE  AGES  439 

of  bay,  in  the  capitol  of  Rome,  as  the  laureate  poet,  or 
national  singer  of  Italy. 

Chaucer,  born  about  1340,  and  who  died  in  1400,  is 
the  first  really  great  name  in  English  literature.  He  held 
various  offices  and  went  abroad  in  subordinate  capacities 
on  the  service  of  the  King,  and  in  Italy  was  introduced  to 
literature  in  its  noblest  mediaeval  shape,  and  in  one  of 
the  noblest  shapes  it  has  appeared  in  any  age.  He  had 
written  poetry  before  this,  but  it  was  the  work  of  the  poets 
Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio's  prose,  that  most  pro- 
foundly impressed  him  and  influenced  him,  and  he  bor- 
rowed much  of  their  style  and  grace  and  occasionally  inci- 
dents as  well.  His  Canterbury  Tales,  the  most  famous  of 
his  works,  consists  of  twenty-two  tales  in  verse,  with  two 
in  prose,  told  by  twenty-three  pilgrims  out  of  the  twenty- 
nine  who  meet  at  the  Tabard  Inn  in  Southwark  on  their 
way  to  the  shrine  of  Thomas  a  Becket  at  Canterbury. 
They  follow  the  lead  of  Boccaccio  in  that  a  series  of  tales  is 
hung  together  upon  a  connecting  thread  of  narrative.  In 
the  Tales  Chaucer  shows  a  genius  akin  to  Shakespeare's. 
Not  only  is  there  a  rare  dramatic  power  manifested 
clearly,  though  there  was  not  yet  a  drama,  but  he  had  also 
the  calm  sense  of  highest  truth  and  that  kindly  breadth 
of  human  sentiment  without  which  a  power  such  as 
Shakespeare's  can  not  be.  His  Troilus  and  Cressida  are 
versions  of  two  of  the  most  famous  poems  written  by 
Boccaccio,  and  the  influence  of  Dante  was  shown  upon  his 
later  work.  The  House  of  Fame  was  a  brilliant  effort  of 
imaginative  power,  and  the  Legend  of  Good  Women 
showed  the  high  esteem  for  womanly  truth  and  beauty 
felt  by  the  poet.  John  Gower,  born  about  1325,  and  dying 
1408,  was  a  contemporary  and  friend  of  Chaucer,  who 
calls  him  the  "moral  Gower,"  from  his  grave  and  sen- 
tentious style,  even  when  treating  upon  topics  which  might 


44°      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY 

well  be  treated  in  a  lively  manner,  such  as  his  "Confes- 
sio  Amantis,"  which  is  his  best  known  work. 

In  Germany,  the  native  genius  asserted  itself  in  the 
production  of  the  great  epic  poem,  called  the  Nibelungen 
Lied  ("Song  of  the  Nibelungen,"  an  ancient  Burgundian 
tribe).  The  hero  of  the  work  is  called  Siegfried;  the 
heroine  is  Brunhild,  an  Icelandic  princess;  the  incidents 
are  those  of  the  Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  mythology; 
the  time  of  the  historical  basis  of  the  poem  is  about  440 
A.  D.,  and  the  scene  is  on  the  Rhine,  and  on  the  borders  of 
Hungary  and  Austria.  The  author  is  not  certainly 
known;  it  was  written  about  the  middle  of  the  Twelfth 
Century.  The  German  critics  place  this  great  epic,  in  some 
respects,  above  the  "Iliad";  it  is  the  work  of  a  true  poet, 
but  of  a  different  class  from  the  Homeric. 

The  chief  artistic  boast  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  to  be 
found  in  the  architecture,  whose  noble  works  men  still 
behold  with  admiration  and  delight.  In  these,  art  lent 
her  aid  to  religion,  and  in  the  twelfth  and  following  cen- 
turies arose  the  glorious  cathedrals  and  abbeys  which 
adorn  the  ancient  towns  and  beauteous  nooks  of  France 
and  England,  Belgium  and  Holland,  Germany,  Italy,  and 
Spain.  In  these  structures  sublimity  of  general  composi- 
tion is  united  with  the  beauties  of  variety  and  form,  and 
with  intricacy  of  parts,  and  skillful  effects  of  light  and 
shade — all  that  can,  in  architectural  effect,  charm  the  eye 
and  elevate  the  soul.  The  rounded  arch  of  the  Norman 
style — imitated  from  the  Moorish  and  the  Byzantine 
buildings — began  to  give  place,  about  the  middle  of  the 
Twelfth  Century,  to  the  pointed  arch  of  what  is  called 
the  Gothic  architecture.  The  origin  of  this  style  is  as 
obscure  as  its  beauty  is  apparent.  It  was  accompanied,  in 
many  instances,  with  a  great  profusion  of  ornament,  such 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  beautiful  cathedral  of  Amiens,  and 


441 

many  similar  productions  of  France.  For  three  centuries 
the  Gothic  style  prevailed,  and  the  great  cathedrals  of 
Milan  and  Cologne  belong  to  the  Fifteenth  Century.  Of 
these  the  latter  has  only  been  lately  completed;  that  of 
Milan  remains  unfinished  yet,  a  wondrous  dream  in  white 
marble,  bristling  with  pinnacles  and  statues,  unrivaled 
in  its  kind  among  all  the  works  of  men.  It  has  been  said 
that  in  these  cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  "the  artist  used 
a  building  as  a  book  on  which  to  express,  in  powerful 
language,  his  own  peculiar  disposition,  his  hopes,  his  senti- 
ments, his  thoughts,  and  his  experience."  The  great 
awakening  of  mind  at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  led 
to  the  wildness  and  exuberance  of  fancy  displayed  in  the 
richly  varied  decoration  of  the  later  style;  the  grotesque 
carvings  plentifully  seen  in  it  are  illustrations  of  fables, 
legends,  and  romances,  as  well  as  the  individual  expres- 
sions of  the  artist's  thoughts  and  embodiments  of  his 
creed. 

The  introduction  of  Christianity  acted  at  first  as  a 
check  upon  the  art  of  painting.  The  Greek  and  Roman 
arts  had  represented  the  pagan  gods  abhorred  by  the  early 
Christians,  and  painting  fell  into  discredit.  By  degrees  the 
art  came  to  be  used  to  illustrate  the  new  religion,  though 
its  development  was  again  checked  by  the  excesses 
of  the  Iconoclasts  of  the  Eighth  and  Ninth  Centuries  in 
the  Byzantine  Empire,  who  destroyed  many  works  of  art 
in  their  zeal  against  image-worship.  The  Byzantine 
school  of  painting  is  known  by  its  gilded  backgrounds, 
bright  colors,  and  comparative  indifference  to  truthful- 
ness of  representation,  beauty  of  form,  and  grandeur  of 
conception.  This  school  of  art  was  the  parent  of  the  great 
schools  of  Italy  and  of  the  Rhenish  or  Old  Cologne  school 
in  Germany.  Early  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  painting  was 
spread  from  Constantinople  to  other  parts  of  Europe. 


.  Bstes, 


442      ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY 

After  the  capture  of  that  city  by  the  Venetians  and  the 
Latin  Crusaders  in  1204,  many  Byzantine  painters  passed 
into  Italy  and  Germany.  A  new  civilization  had  now 
arisen  in  Italy,  and,  under  the  influences  now  brought  to 
bear,  painting  there  reached,  during  the  next  three  cen- 
turies, a  perfection  never  attained  before  or  since.  In  the 
Fourteenth  Century  the  Italian  artists  set  themselves  free 
from  the  conventional  trammels  of  the  Byzantine  style. 
The  chief  leaders  in  this  were  Cimabue,  born  at  Florence 
in  1240,  and  Giotto,  born  in  a  Florentine  village  about 
1276,  a  pupil  of  Cimabue's.  Cimabue  forms  the  link 
between  the  ancient  and  modern  schools  of  painting.  Poor 
in  coloring  and  perspective,  he  had  grandeur  of  style,  accu- 
rate drawing,  natural  expression,  noble  grouping,  and  fine 
disposition  of  drapery.  Giotto  is  the  first  really  great 
painter  of  modern  times.  His  influence  spread  through- 
out Italy  and  into  other  lands,  his  human  figures  having 
truth,  nature,  dignity,  correctness,  life,  and  freedom  pre- 
viously unattained.  For  nearly  two  centuries  the  Floren- 
tine school  of  art  was  preeminent,  reaching  its  height  in 
the  first  half  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  The  Roman, 
Venetian,  Bolognese,  Milanese,  Parmesan,  and  Neapolitan 
schools  of  painting  come  after  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
Rhenish — or  Old  Cologne — school  of  Germany  flourished 
from  the  Fourteenth  to  the  Fifteenth  Century.  The 
Flemish  painters  begin  with  the  brothers  Van  Eyck,  of 
Bruges,  early  in  the  Fifteenth  Century.  The  Dutch, 
French,  and  Spanish  painters  come  after  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  English  later  still.  Such  were  the  beginnings  and 
first  results  of  that  great  reawakening  of  intelligence  and 
progress  of  culture  which  mark  the  closing  centuries  of 
the  thousand  years  of  history  called  the  Middle  Ages, 


\ 

* 


/v 


HII,nil,n,\H,^,l?,E,!?'°B..L'^RY  FACILITY 


•    /^ 


& 


